


Mist of Doom

by LegendaryBiologist13



Category: Gungrave (Anime)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aliens, Blood and Injury, Dragons, Epic Battles, Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Human/Parasite Relationships, Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Seinen, Superpowers, Symbiotic Relationship, Undead, Urban Fantasy, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 19:24:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 50,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15825357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegendaryBiologist13/pseuds/LegendaryBiologist13
Summary: Mysterious mist hangs over Central Billion and is slowly spreading to the other regions in the state. It drives people mad, and those who enter the affected region never come out.Mankind has built windmills across the state of Billion to blow away the mist, but it proves to be a temporary solution: a dragon destroys them and then returns to the depths of the mist. When the authorities set a bounty on the dragon's head, eighteen-year-old Mika Asagi sees it as a free entry to the prestigious Metaslica Faculty of Science and accepts the challenge. Despite knowing the infamous tale about the mist and Central Billion, Mika goes on a journey to slay the dragon with her one-eyed undead guardian.Game-verse. Post Overdose.





	1. One Misty Night

"This is a good place to rest. I smell no human here... But it stinks like hell!"

Head poking out of his guitar, Billy stretched his neck to take a closer look at the dead-end alley found by his undead buddy Jyuji; the rays cast by the full moon in the starry sky gave him enough illumination to see what lay there. Weathered wooden planks and rusty iron poles rested against the wall. Rats and insects dug into the heaps of rubbish that spilled out of the fallen trash cans.

Good thing Billy couldn't smell anything as a ghost. Not like Jyuji, who smelled so well like what humans called "zombies." Billy and their other friends never called him that "z" word, though, because Jyuji walked like a healthy human and could neither eat something nor spread his condition, unlike the ones portrayed in popular cultures. Also, Jyuji communicated with words, not groans.

"We can find a better place, Jyuji."

"I just need a break. Now." The frowning Jyuji sat on the ground and slammed the guitar down. The thud broke the silence in the alley.

Billy sighed. This grumpy undead man really needed to smile more, but whenever Billy attempted to amuse him, he'd only snap. It wasn't like Billy would stop trying to bring a smile outta this old grump, though. Entertaining either humans or undead made him feel alive; sometimes when he joked around, he might even forget that he was a ghost.

He sprang out of his instrument, picked it up and strummed it. Rats squeaked and jumped from one trash can to another, pepping up Billy's _I Feel Good_ with discordant vocals and percussion.

If only this were a stage with colorful spotlights... Well, those with a refined taste in music would pelt him with rotten fruits and veggies, while those who only wanted some zest in their lives would clap and dance like mad at his performance.

"Quit it!" Jyuji suddenly yelled, looking up at him. Yes, _looked_. Or perhaps _stared_. Jyuji might have lost his eyes and covered the glowing, empty sockets of his skull with a blindfold, but to Billy, it always seemed like Jyuji could still give death glares whenever he felt like it.

"Aw, man." Billy's face crumpled as his guitar slipped out of his hands. "I thought it would cheer you up." He retreated into the instrument like a genie into his magic lamp.

"Cheerful ghosts annoy me." The rats continued with their inharmonious orchestra, and Jyuji screamed, "Shut up before I roast ya, noisy pests!"

Billy peeked from the sound hole. "Um, they don't understand our language, do they?"

"Neither do you!" Jyuji hissed through his gritted teeth, his right shoulder glowing with orange light. Then fire burst out of it - why it never burned Jyuji's coat to ashes, nobody knew. "Argh! That damned Seed is coming again! All thanks to you and those freakin' pests!"

 _Seed_ , Billy reiterated in his mind. Humans gave the drug such a funny name because of how it worked. Once a body - dead or alive - earned a dose of Seed, one would have to wait until the substance turned into a fully-grown alien. Then it would bear its "fruits:" bringing a corpse back to life, granting the individuals some cool powers that existed only in superhero movies, or both.

Unfortunately, the aliens often wanted to take control of one's body for unknown reasons. Whenever they made the attempt, the infected would act like some cranky old men; the grumpy ones like Jyuji would get even grumpier. They'd only stop after kicking the aliens' asses, or earlier if they knew how to meditate.

Like Jyuji.

Billy had seen what would happen if the aliens won the fight, and he shuddered. No. Jyuji would never lose. Never.

Staying inside the guitar, Billy observed Jyuji's breathing pattern. In. Out. In. Out. Rhythmic like a ticking metronome, exactly thirty beats per minute. The flame on his shoulder dimmed before shrinking to nothingness.

"What a relief. It'll leave me alone for a few hours." Jyuji stood up, his face an impassive mask. "Let's start walking again."

"But I thought you said-"

"I said, 'Let's start walking again.' We gotta find a better place to spend the night."

Billy sighed, slowly emerging from his hideout. _Just as scatterbrained as ever. Amazing how he could still meditate properly._ Hovering above the musical instrument, he pointed at his feet with a grin. "I don't walk."

"Not funny." The scowling Jyuji walked past him and out of the alley. "Now, be my eyes."

"Of course." Billy returned to his guitar and followed Jyuji. His head remained on the surface so that he could see better. "I've been doing it since we met, haven't I?"

"If you hadn't, I'd have dumped this guitar as soon as I learned that it was a haunted by an annoyingly chatty ghost."

"Aw, but you once said that you kept it because-" Billy winced. No, no, no. If his guitar really smelled like Jyuji, it meant he had that Seed thing living in him. Meanwhile, he had never engaged an alien in a battle for dominance.

Or perhaps Jyuji said so because they were both undead? Billy really hoped that Jyuji actually meant this.

"Because of what?" Jyuji asked.

"Never mind."

Once Billy caught up with Jyuji, he let the undead man carry the guitar over his shoulder.

As Jyuji walked, Billy looked around out of boredom. Gigantic tower mills loomed over the multi-story buildings in South City - whoever named this place was such an uncreative soul because it was located at the southern region of the state of Billion. Unlike the windmills Billy had learned at school during his mortal life, they created the wind instead of generating energy with it. Much like giant fans, though nobody really knew about its power source.

Jyuji did claim that they smelled like him, but Billy wouldn't buy that.

The street was empty. Billy could hear the faint howl of the wind as it sent Jyuji's ragged greatcoat fluttering wildly like Superman's cape. It was like they were alone in a jungle, with dilapidated buildings of various height and street signs as the trees. No lights, no speeding vehicles, no human voices. Nothing.

Only ethereal whiteness roamed. The further they went, the thicker the haze grew. Jyuji's coat stopped billowing as well.

Dread slithered into Billy like a knot of snakes when he realized where they were heading to. Eyes darting left and right at the hazy whiteness, he murmured, "I don't like this, Jyuji."

"What? We've met and fought many horrible stuff, you know?"

"I've heard a lot of bad things about the mist and Central Billion. They sound worse than what we've faced."

"Pfft. You must've heard one too many rumors from humans. Those spineless wimps." Jyuji _stared_ at him. "Don't lower yourself to their level!"

Billy nodded hesitantly; if ghosts could gulp, he'd have done it. Some said that the mist drove people nuts, and hence the construction of the massive windmills. Then there was the extremely famous: _"Whoever goes to Central Billion never returns."_

Madmen could never return, could they?

Jyuji went on. A few steps later, he slowed down. "It kinda stinks here."

"Are we going back?"

Jyuji didn't reply, but Billy could see his struggle to advance into the sea of white. So sluggish. So hesitant. _So troubled._

"It stinks... It stinks... It stinks..." The words escaped from Jyuji's lips over and over again like a broken cassette player. His grip on the guitar loosened as his feet remained frozen in place.

Billy fled from the plummeting instrument and caught it. "Jyuji, let's get the hell outta here!" His free hand passed through Jyuji's when he tried to seize it. _Damn, I have a habit of forgetting what I am whenever I'm panicking._

Jyuji walked into the thick mist, slowly and stiffly like a wind-up nutcracker doll. "It stinks..." His right shoulder glowed again. Then fire - a _blue_ one - roared on it.

Noticing Jyuji's erratic breathing, Billy shouted, "Snap out of it!" His words fell on deaf ears, and Billy retreated into his guitar. He had to push Jyuji away from this creepy place, even if it would involve tackling his friend with the guitar - a not so pleasant experience for both of them. _  
_

He rocketed into the sky, swerved, and charged at Jyuji at lightning speed.

"It smells _delicious_!" Jyuji bellowed, loud, hard, and energetic enough to create a shockwave that blew the incoming guitar away and smashed the nearby buildings.

"No!" Regaining his composure, Billy made his way to Jyuji again.

Too late. Now engulfed in blue flame, Jyuji leaped into the air. His face lengthened into that of a dragon's, and multiple fiery spikes grew out of his skull. A pair of blazing wings ripped out of his back as he glided away from the levitating Billy.

Had Jyuji finally lost the battle within him? Or was it the mist?

"This can't be! Jyuji!" Billy howled, dropping down along with his guitar. His chest burned so much that he wanted to cry, but ghosts couldn't shed tears. Ever.


	2. Awakening

"You can learn about us on our official website, young lady."

The woman in office dress faked a smile; Mika knew it. Had she had an Internet access at home, she wouldn't have come to the information counter of Metaslica Faculty of Science. The sparkling marble floor, desks, and pillars in the building, in addition to the strong-smelling perfume used by the wandering scholars and staffers, made her feel like a disheveled mutt amid a pack of well-cared poodles in a dog show.

The gossip about Metaslica University accepting mostly children of rich people in the state was true after all. It made Mika wonder if the entrance exam in this university was just for show. But what could she do? The mist had rendered Central Billion and the humble Billion State University unapproachable. If only there were more universities that would let her study Seed...

"I'm sure that everybody in the state has an Internet access," the woman added, "except those from the slum."

Mika's blood boiled, but she merely returned the fake smile. "Okay, I get it. Thanks." Hands in pockets, she walked away from the counter and towards the exit.

The passersby gave her a smug look, at which she bowed with her teeth gritted and her hands gripping the fabric within her pants pockets. An indigent from the slum she was, but hey, she had fought against Seed-infected people and _survived_. These cocky moneybags would need her whenever this alien drug business got out of hand.

Well, she did get a lot of help from Grave, her one-eyed undead guardian, but still.

Sunlight greeted Mika once she stepped out of the building. The lavenders in the flowerbeds swayed in the breeze from the town's windmills, their fragrance wafting into her nostrils.

Walking past the row of top model cars by the flowerbeds, she sighed. Okay, she understood why she shouldn't park here, but even in the motorcycle parking zone of the faculty, the parking attendant shooed her away as soon as he saw her. She rode a random motorbike that Grave stole from his enemies four years ago, not a pricey, branded one like a Harley Davidson.

So she ended up parking her vehicle at the roadside, across the faculty of snobs.

Mika approached the sidecar of her motorbike, grabbed the helmet from the passenger carrier and put it on. Heading to the main seat, she stared at the sidecar as though her younger self sat there. Ah, how much she missed the days when her one-eyed undead guardian could still drive her around the town. Grave was dead to begin with, and the Seed alien in his body had been keeping him "alive" in exchange for his blood; should he fail to quench its thirst, it would reduce him to smithereens. Luckily, the alien would go dormant whenever he hibernated in their trailer.

"Was it fun to sleep whenever you have nothing to do, just because you can't do anything else without risking your body?" she wondered out loud, thrusting the key into the ignition hole and twisting it. The engine came to life with a roar. "Don't you want to live more freely and see how much the world has changed, _Brandon_?"

Soothing warmth streamed into her chest when she mentioned Grave's real name. She had never called him by that, had she? Now was the time to change, to show him that she doted on him as though he was her biological father. Perhaps someday, she'd call him "father" instead.

She hopped onto the trembling motorbike and headed home. Her skin tingled with coolness as the wind blew against her.

Engines droned across the streets. The air was gray with the exhaust gas from the nearby vehicles, yet Mika sensed only the faint stench of burned oil. Perhaps years of direct exposure to the fumes had dulled her senses a bit.

Mika came across a crossroad and halted before the red traffic lights. During the wait, she looked around out of boredom. An electronic shop lay on her left side, their flat-screen TVs displaying the news channel. The headline said _"The Windmills at South City Had Been Destroyed"_ before shifting to _"A Dragon Was Seen Flying from South City to Central Billion."_

Beeeeep!

Mika jumped a bit at the loud honk before shifting her gaze to the traffic lights. Green. Time to go. Full speed, because she needed to catch up with the news about the dragon.

It was already 10AM when Mika arrived at the slum. She could find no car there; instead, there were only some motorbikes or bicycles. People in rags roamed the broken pavement, a few of them stopping by the hawker stalls to buy fried cassavas and corn dogs.

Mika steered her motorbike towards her home - a two-story building with brownish, peeling wall paint. It stood at the westernmost region of the slum, a few houses away from the straightforward path to the highlands of Billion. This area lacked windmills unlike the other sides of the slum, but Mika rarely felt hot here thanks to the mountain breeze.

Mika shut down her motorbike and hopped off. After unlocking and opening the double door, she pushed the vehicle into her house, right beside a trailer.

Ethereal claws planted themselves into Mika's heart as she took off her helmet and looked at the massive metallic truck. It was as though one of the doors leading to Brandon's hibernation chamber was open, with Mika hooking her hands on its top to do pull-ups under the Brandon's supervision. Tears welled in her eyes when she remembered her days as a puny newbie; whenever her hurting hands made her slip and fall, Brandon would catch her.

 _I'll find a way to enter Metaslica Faculty of Science!_ She placed the helmet on the sidecar and sprinted towards the open door. _I'll study hard so that you can be free!  
_

Upon closing and locking the door, she hurried to the second floor and switched on the ceiling lamp of the living room. Like a kid who was afraid of missing her favorite show, Mika rushed to turn on the retro TV and sit on the ripped couch.

The man in the TV - as stated in the headline - was David Rossi, the dean of Metaslica Faculty of Science. Mika let out a quick "huh" as she wondered what he and the pompous faculty had to do with the whole mess in the state.

"We will reward the one who brings the dragon to us, dead or alive," he said. "Hopefully, this specimen will bring us closer to the truth behind the mist and Central Billion."

Mika smiled broadly at the speech. Just exactly what she needed!

But wait. The dragon was seen at South City, and the windmills there were all gone. If it were the one who destroyed those colossal mills, just how big and strong it was?

The scene in the TV shifted to the news presenter, who ended the broadcast with, "That's all for now. We'll be back with sports after a few ads."

After switching off the TV and the ceiling lamp, Mika walked down the stairs and approached the trailer with a frown. A human girl against a humongous dragon? Very funny.

_If I die, Brandon can never be free from that leech.  
_

Mika opened the door to the driver's cockpit and the glove compartment in it. A .357 caliber pistol and a belt holster rested there, the words "Puppy Fang" embossed on the weapon's grip. The big red cross carved on its barrel reminded Mika of the design of Brandon's .59 caliber pistols Cerberus. Nobody knew who created the weapon and left it there, but judging from its design and name, she'd guess that one of her deceased scientist friends had crafted it for her.

After picking up the gun, holstering it, and putting on the belt holster, she looked at the crimson lever beside the steering wheel and shook her head. Her heart ached as her free hand went to pull it down. "Brandon," she said, retreating from the cockpit and closing the door, "I need your help again."

She stood still and counted until thirty.

The doors leading to Brandon's hibernation chamber flung open with a thud. White vapor poured out of the truck, and a set of slow, heavy footsteps echoed. With a tearful smile, Mika galloped towards the source of the noise.

There her one-eyed undead guardian Brandon stood, his wild black mane fluttering in the air. Over seven feet tall with the physique of a professional bodybuilder, his mere appearance cast an invisible, impenetrable barrier around Mika that warmed her up as well.

But could he last until the end of the hunt? He couldn't possibly get any transfusion during this quest.

"Brandon," she called out, giving him a hug. The coldness from his leather jacket permeated through hers and into her skin. "I..."

Brandon returned the embrace, prompting her to look up. That gentle smile of his pretty much told her that everything would be okay.

Funny how he didn't even question why she called him "Brandon" instead of "Grave."

"Thank you," she muttered.

Suddenly, her ears registered distressed screams. Then someone rapped on the doors.

"The windmills are destroyed! Run for your lives!"


	3. Hearing Voices

Brandon's massive coffin-shaped weapon container rested on the metallic table of his partially-frosted hibernation chamber. As he rushed to it, the chains tied to each of its ends shot into the air. He turned around and let the chains knot themselves around his arms - a few centimeters above his elbows.

Sometimes the binding phenomenon made him wonder if the weapon carrier possessed sentience like he did. He didn't need to push any buttons - not that there was one on the container anyway - to summon the wanted firearm either; as long as his heart mentioned the right password for the desired weapon, the coffin would produce it.

Ah, he should stop pondering about the mystery behind this cool stuff now. Humans were screaming in terror out there; Mika had even opened the doors of their residence to let him get a better view of the fleeing people and vehicles.

With the coffin hanging horizontally against his figure, he sprang out of his trailer and onto the pavement. Seeing everybody stampede in their direction, he picked Mika up and leaped onto the rooftop of their house.

"The dragon is probably behind the mess," Mika began.

Brandon quirked an eyebrow as he hopped from one building to another, in line with the stream of people and vehicles beneath them. A dragon? It seemed like someone abused Seed again, although its product this time sounded really mild when compared to a crystalline chicken samurai and a giant blob of lard with helicopter blades.

Geez, some humans were violent, power-hungry monsters, weren't they? When things didn't sit right with them, they'd produce Seed and inject the drug into corpses, animals, and even other humans. Most of the time, they'd use the created undead and mutants to fulfill their selfish desires.

Sometimes, Brandon wished they would use the drug for life-saving purposes more frequently. He had seen how it worked - on Mika, to be exact; once injected, the mortally-wounded subjects would regenerate all of their wounds and stand up as though nothing had happened to them. However, half of their body would soon turn blue and lustrous. Only a dose of the Counter-Seed drug could get rid of the glossy skin, because the aliens would die upon the administration of the antidote.

"Um, I really want to hunt the dragon together with you, Brandon. I bet it's wandering around the heart of the slum right now."

Brandon stopped in his tracks, his eye widening. He imagined the dragon spat a blazing meteorite at them; perhaps he could tank the whole thing, but could Mika survive the resulting blast?

"Huh?"

Damn, what humans called "emotion" was such a strong thing for the undead at times. Right now it seared his heart, and when he thought of answering Mika, the pain spread to his head.

"What's wrong?"

He looked at Mika, all of his facial muscles pulled down by the invisible wires formed by this emotion thing.

"Don't worry, I'm stronger now." She smiled. "I've been training every day and working as a night patrol at the slum."

Brandon scanned Mika from head to toe. Indeed, his child was now a lean girl with a set of well-built hams and calves. But boy, couldn't she find a more feminine and less risky job? He had taught her how to fight for self-defense during emergency cases, not for making money.

"It's too dangerous for you," he murmured. "Leave this to me."

"But-"

Brandon shook his head, a gesture of his that had always worked wonders in silencing Mika. Just as he turned to jump off the building and let her join the crowd, "emotion" wrapped itself around his brain like a boa constrictor and halted him with a question: _Are the highlands safe?_

He turned around and headed to the heart of the slum with Mika. At least he could watch his child more closely this way.

The further they went, the quieter it grew; Brandon could only hear the clinking of his coffin's chains. Looking down from the top of a three-story building, he saw the empty street down there. So he jumped off, cratering the ground upon the touchdown.

As Brandon scampered ahead, white ethereal tentacles trailed around him. They didn't feel cool on the skin, but somehow they raised the hair on his nape. He couldn't tell the odor, though; the Seed in him had long deactivated his sense of smell.

"It's the mist," Mika told him. "Be careful. I heard that it drives people mad."

Brandon stopped running, a regretful hiss escaping through his gritted his teeth. He should've left Mika with other humans, not risking her sanity by bringing her here!

But were the highlands safe?

With a sigh, he resumed his journey while silently praying for the psyche-warping mist to be just a nonsense. A vast blanket of white loomed over the rundown tenements ahead, creeping around the street signs and traffic lights before coming to a rest at a crossroad that lay a few feet away from them.

"This is why the windmills mustn't be destroyed, Brandon," Mika said. "See? The mist already covers part of the slum because nothing blows it away."

Something buzzed in the distance.

Brandon set Mika on the ground and rushed to the source of the noise - a sea of hazy whiteness. A swarm of giant crystalline dragonflies greeted him with a loud screech. _Seed stuff_ , his mind noted. For some reason, these insects didn't have any plasma pistols mounted on their spindly limbs unlike the ones he fought five years ago.

Behind him, a scream and a thud resounded.

He took a few steps back and glanced over his shoulder. Mika lay on the ground, writhing in pain as her left hand and the left side of her face turned glossy blue.

 _I should've left her with those humans! Damn_ _it!_ The chains around his arms loosened. _Damn it all!_ Roaring, he grabbed the plummeting coffin and pointed it at the incoming crystalline insects. _Death Blow!  
_

The upper half of the coffin split open like double doors, and a huge metallic barrel slid out of the opening. With a boom, a stout missile rocketed from the muzzle and towards the dispersing swarm. It collided with a dragonfly and exploded, sending shrapnel and shards of crystals everywhere. They pierced through the surviving dragonflies that flew too close to the blast.

The barrel retracted, and the coffin slammed shut.

The remaining insects pressed on. Roused by Mika's cries, Brandon charged at the swarm with his coffin ready to smash stuff.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Up. Down. The crystalline dragonflies shattered like glassware, their fragments ricocheting off Brandon's face, arms, and torso. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the last insect gliding over him and towards the squirming Mika.

Brandon whirled and jumped at it. His coffin came down as a bludgeon, crushing both dragonfly and concrete alike.

"Brandon!" Mika screamed. "Something's talking in my head!"

With the coffin's chains wrapping themselves around his arms, Brandon rushed to Mika and picked her up.

"No," Mika's _left hand_ spoke in a robotic voice as Brandon hoisted her out of the misty forest of concrete. "Please let me talk."

Mika yelped, her eyes widening and her body trembling like jelly. Eye flaring at the sight, Brandon snapped, "Shut up! You're scaring her!"

"Please hear me out. I mean no harm."

Brandon ignored the voice.

"I just want to help you."

Whatever existed within Mika, it sure behaved like a desperate human. Pretending not to hear its voice, Brandon kept running and stopped only when the glossy blue patches on Mika's face and hand vanished - which happened as soon as he reached a mist-free area. He set her down on the pavement.

"Thank y-you so m-much, Brandon." Mika gave him a hug, which he immediately returned. Poor kid was so pale and shaky. "I th-thought I was g-going crazy earlier. The left side of my body h-hurt so much, then s-something spoke in my h-h-head."

"What did it say?" Brandon asked.

"I-it introduced itself as a S-seed alien named 'Orion.'"

Brandon's eye widened in shock. Damn, it seemed like his attempt to find the antidote last year was all for _nothing_. Or maybe the creator of the cure lied about its potency? Too bad that nobody turned him into an undead so that Brandon could demand the truth from him.

"Orion s-said something about the m-mist giving it the strength to t-t-talk." Mika released Brandon from the hug, a little less shaky now. "Y-you also have a Seed alien in you, but it didn't seem to b-bother you."

Brandon grinned. "That means you can sit back while I hunt down the dragon."

What humans called "emotion" was such a fickle mistress. When he saw a smile on Mika's face, it sparked a bonfire in his cold, hollow chest. But when he thought of leaving his child at the highlands, the flame died out.

Mika nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess I'll just w-wait with others at the highlands. Let's go get the motorbike."

Brandon took Mika back to their residence, chanting "the highlands are safe" and "don't worry" over and over again in his heart as he walked.


	4. Fish out of Water

Volans the Flying Fish stood atop a rickety two-story building, waving his tail fin in glee as the odor of fish flakes wafted in the thick mist and into his nostrils. Hmm, hadn't he just had an argument about the mist's scent with his superiors? Corvus the Raven once told him that it smelled like carrion, while Draco the Dragon argued that it smelled like barbecued meat.

Whichever was true, their kind - the microscopic inhabitants of Planet Methuselah - had agreed that the mist was salvation. Before it existed, they needed some science-loving humans to disguise them as a drug called Seed. Now, thanks to the empowering properties of the mist, they could invade human bodies - or rather, nutritious growth media - whenever they wanted to.

The heretics disagreed with that view, though; to them, _mankind_ was salvation. These goody two-shoes often went as far as to reanimate corpses and give them superpowers without asking for any real payment.

The fish man spat at the thought. Mankind was a growth medium, nothing else. The Methuselah folks had visited Earth in search of nutrients and a perfect habitat after all.

"Get off me!"

The scream reached Volans. Looking down, he saw a thrashing man with a giant crystalline dragonfly perching on his back.

"Shut up, human!" Spreading his four wing-like fins, Volans jumped and glided towards the commotion. "It's just my hungry pal!"

The dragonfly glowed, its lengthening limbs wrapping around the man's torso like vines around a pillar. The human's loud, repetitive "no" grew fainter and fainter as the radiance traveled up and down his body, turning him into a shimmering cocoon.

"Be a good growth medium, human." Volans whirled and flew away from the cocoon.

White wisps crept around Volans, bringing with them the savory scent of fish food. Hmm, why not take a dip to double the joy? Swimming pools probably didn't exist in the slum, but rivers were just as good.

_Don't worry, Corvus. I'll be back to patrolling in an hour.  
_

Why had he mentioned Corvus' name anyway? It wasn't like he would catch Volans slacking off anyway; even if the raven did, Volans wouldn't mind. Assigning him to such a boring, annoying job was a big mistake.

_As if I'm just a little better than the dragonflies..._

Up in the air, Volans heard shrill shrieks from beneath and gnashed his teeth in exasperation. Noisy growth media! Good thing his host - a science-loving human named Stanley Butler - had accepted him with open arms.

A massive trail of rippling brown lay beneath him. Volans swooped in, and his jaw dropped at what he saw. Surrounded by shoddy houses was a river, its water sharing the same hue as milk coffee - his host's but definitely not Volans' favorite drink. Heaps of rubbish drifted in the murky water; luckily, the mist's scent triumphed over the stench of rotten eggs from them.

Volans slammed his webbed hand against his forehead and hissed. Filthy riverside dwellers! According to the info from Stanley's brain, these humans also urinated, defecated, and _washed their stuff_ here. Had his host worked as a doctor, he would've gotten a lot of money. But these patients couldn't possibly pay the medical fee, could they?

The fish man glided away from the river and the pitiful houses at the bank. _Ain't gonna contaminate my gills_. Back to the heart of the slum he went, hoping to find a better place for pampering himself.

_What to find then?_

The sudden flow of information from Stanley's brain suggested that Volans searched for a bathtub, since clean rivers didn't exist in the slum. Man, his host should've told him more before he started the quest for a dip!

Over and over again, Volans rammed through the walls of the better-looking houses in his sight and checked the bathrooms. No bathtubs unfortunately; most humans here preferred wall taps, buckets, and water dippers.

_Are you sure that there are bathtubs around?_

Another surge of information came from Stanley's brain, and Volans pulled his webbed ears in frustration. This was _a freaking slum_ , the residential area for impoverished humans. Food and drink always came first for these people, while hygiene and refreshment came second.

"You're such a useless host, Stanley! You always give me pieces of info that lead nowhere!" Volans kicked the half-empty pail away, spilling water across the cramped bathroom. "You must be why everybody always treats me like I'm just a little better than the dragonflies!"

Stanley's brain responded with a tiny stream of info, which caused Volans to punch the wall.

"Because there's a barrier between our brains? What kind of stupid answer is that?" Volans yelled. "A good host is supposed to push through that barrier! Or better, destroy it!"

Something buzzed outside. Stepping out of the bathroom, Volans found a giant crystalline dragonfly hovering before a broken window.

"What is it?"

The dragonfly turned around and flew away from him. Volans only stood still, prompting it to stop, look back, and wag one of its scraggly limbs at him.

A "follow me" gesture, eh?

"You guys really should learn how to talk. Not everybody is good at reading body language." Volans smashed through the small opening and followed the insect across the slum. No more humans shrieked from beneath, which made him smile. The dragonflies must've seized all the nutritious bodies in the area.

The scent of fish flakes gradually faded as the hazy whiteness dwindled. _The edge of the misty zone_ , Volans recognized, diving down along with the dragonfly in front of him. Crystalline shards and spindly limbs lay scattered across the road.

Airborne, Volans clapped his hands in excitement. "I sense _heretics_!"

The dragonfly turned to him, shaking its head while waving its uppermost limbs.

Volans swatted the insect away. "Stop looking down on me! I'm stronger than you think, you know?" Fins flapping rapidly, he bolted upwards and out of the misty area. "I'll kill the heretics and bring their bodies to Corvus!"

The odor of fish food no longer existed in the mist-free part of the slum. No humans or dragonflies roamed down there.

 _You see this, Corvus?_ Volans thought. _I can survive for some time without the mist, not like the dragonflies!_ Coldness crept his glowing webbed hand. _And dragonflies can't do this!_ A swipe of his arm sent a water chakram cutting through a street sign and into the pavement.

Volans pressed on, pondering about how Draco the Dragon quickly became Corvus' favorite. Despite having just taken over the body of Jyuji Kabane, he immediately demolished the windmills at two regions in the state - a feat that Corvus the Raven couldn't even achieve by himself.

 _"If he keeps up with this,"_ the euphoric Corvus once told him, _"the mist will soon engulf the whole state!"_

Well, if Corvus said so, then fine; Volans would just slaughter a bunch of heretics and show the proof to him. It was as impressive as destroying windmills, wasn't it?

The silhouette of mountains stood in the distance. According to the info from Stanley's brain, this was the westernmost region of the slum; one could reach the highlands by following the straightforward trail ahead.

Vroom!

Ah, signs of life! Looking down, Volans saw a man driving a big red motorbike towards the highlands. A girl and a coffin sat on the sidecar.

 _ _That coffin is a piece of art. Its creator sure took the time to carve a one-eyed skull and a Celtic cross on its lid... Wait!__ Volans' eyes widened. That man was Beyond the Grave, the saboteur who halted the Methuselah's previous invasion with the powers from the heretic within the corpse of Brandon Heat.

With a wicked grin, Volans rubbed his palms together. Corvus would definitely bow down before him if he came home with Grave's head. Information streamed out of Stanley's brain and into Volans', but the fish man ignored the warning.

Volans spread his arms and focused on the coldness that wormed around his hands. What an easy prey. Grave continued driving as though Volans didn't exist... Though he did shift his gaze to the girl and the coffin.

_Uh-oh...  
_

The droning of the engine faded. Coffin in hands, Grave leaped out of the still motorbike. Volans' water chakrams struck nobody - not even the girl, who deftly hopped out of the sidecar.

Roaring with his brows scrunched, Volans swiped his arms like a madman and launched dozens of water discs at the scampering Grave. Everything merely hit the empty ground, which made Volans grit his teeth and cuss in his mind.

Grave jumped onto a two-story building. Then to the three-story one. Then at Volans.

_Good, good, good! Now you're an easy target!_

Sneering, Volans flung several chakrams at the incoming Grave. He could smell blood. He could hear the lovely squish coming from sliced flesh. He could feel the victory.

A swing of Grave's coffin deflected the discs back at him. Volans screamed in fear, but a chakram lopped his head off and cut him short. Plummeting along with his diced torso and limbs, he wondered if he were really just a little better than the dragonflies.

Grave closed in, the upper half of his coffin splitting open. A metallic barrel slid out of the opening and into Volans' gaping mouth.

Boom!


	5. The Creature Within

Mika frowned; she wouldn't want to visit the heart of the slum again, at least not right now. However, the fish man's sudden appearance would definitely make Brandon reconsider about leaving her at the highlands.

Blood and chunks of silvery flesh rained down upon the road before Mika. Then the coffin-toting Brandon landed beside the mess, spreading cracks across the cratered ground.

As Brandon dropped the coffin and let its chains wrap around his upper arms, Mika approached him with a gulp. "Brandon," she began, her skin tingling at the unnaturally cool mountain breeze, "I... I th-think this m-means the highlands aren't that s-safe and we'll g-go back to the slum together now? But the mist... I d-don't like it!"

Brandon looked at her, the corner of his eye drooping in worry. After a moment of contemplative silence, he muttered, "You're coming with me."

"Wh-what?" Mika's eyes widened. Please, not again! Upon contacting the mist earlier, Mika felt like having barbed wires snake around her left arm and leg. The imaginary object pricked her, crushed her, and then the Seed alien called "Orion" told her to relax. Nothing outside her head could hear its voice, at least not until Orion hijacked her left arm.

Everyone had their own set of ropes that bound them to a state called "sane," and Mika knew the one in her was ready to snap.

Brandon wrapped his brawny arms around her and pulled her close. She knew what he meant; whatever happened, he'd deal with it, even if she would actually need a psychiatrist more than a fighter.

"What am I to you?" he suddenly asked. "More than just a fighter, I bet."

Had he just read her mind? Mika looked up to see his gentle- no, _fatherly_ smile. It warmed her to the core, and she returned it with her childlike one.

Maybe she should start calling him "Daddy" instead of "Brandon" now. And yes, Daddy knew best.

After releasing her, Brandon walked past her and towards their motorbike, or rather, what remained of it. A lump formed in Mika's throat as she approached the wreckage; for four years it had served her and Brandon, and now it was cut up like a carrot thanks to the fish man. Tears streamed out of her eyes when she placed her hands on the sliced sidecar and remembered her rides across the slum.

Brandon patted her on the back. "I can always steal another one."

Those words might sound insensitive for others, but not for Mika. Aside from sensing the tinge of sadness in his voice, she knew Brandon's love for mementos. His trailer - his home - was eighteen years old and had undergone numerous repairs and upgrades, but he just insisted on keeping it.

 _"I'll only consider getting a new one when the trailer truly 'dies,'"_ he once told her. _"It'll be a sad day, but I'll get over it at the end."_

"Yeah," she muttered, sobbing, "I guess it's time to let it go and move on."

Brandon nodded and picked her up. As he ran along the desolate road to the heart of the slum, the tearful Mika couldn't help but keep staring at the wreckage until it finally vanished from her sight.

Mika could've asked Brandon to carry her all the way to the highlands since he could run as fast as a speeding motorbike for hours; his well-developed muscles could store so much oxygen that his body took a long time to start producing fatigue poisons. Unfortunately, blood was his fuel and unlike a motor vehicle, Brandon would disintegrate as soon as he ran out of blood.

 _It's all thanks to that Seed parasite in him!_ Mika clenched her fists, her brow scrunched and her teeth gritted. _I'll get rid of it someday!_

Brandon gradually slowed down. Ethereal whiteness crept around them, raising the hair on the back of Mika's neck. It seemed like they had just left the wreckage a few minutes ago... Or had the mist spread further? Mika looked around to find some clues, but how could she tell from the surroundings? The sky was dull gray, the air smelled like milk chocolate, and all of the surrounding buildings had two stories, one large broken window on each level, and peeling white paint.

Everything was copy-pasted.

Mika rubbed her eyes, but nothing changed. No, no, no. There was no such novelty in the slum! She shifted her gaze to Brandon, who remained poker-faced and kept walking as though the identical buildings didn't exist.

_It's just an illusion!_

Crushing and stabbing pain shot up from her left leg, then her left arm, and she yelped. As she tried to keep her eyes open, her vision rippled violently.

 _"Better close your eyes right now,"_ a robotic voice spoke in her head. _"Take a deep breath and relax. The pain won't last long. Why don't you count until sixty?"_

"I'm not listening to you!" Mika closed her eyes, hoping that the headache from the rippling vision would go away soon. "You'll take over me-" Something cold and fleshy - likely Brandon's hand - cupped over her mouth, reducing her intended speech into a mere "mmf."

_"Don't scream. It'll help the enemies locate us."_

Mika could soon feel the quick movement to the left. A click and a thud followed.

_"Open your eyes, Mika, and look around."_

Although the barbed wires had left her limbs, Mika pretended not to hear anything. Nobody should trust the aliens who could potentially take over their bodies.

Brandon moved again, and a few moments later, Mika suddenly dropped down. Her heels struck a hard surface and remained still, telling her that Brandon had found a seat - probably a wooden couch.

"We're inside a house, Mika." Brandon released her mouth. "Open your eyes."

With a gulp, Mika complied and found herself lying on a wooden couch, her head resting on Brandon's lap. Her eyes widened when she saw nothing but intact, slightly ajar windows. White wisps sneaked through the opening and into the house.

When she sniffed the air, she no longer sensed the chocolatey fragrance.

"I decided to surface a bit later unlike earlier because I wanted you to witness my power. I can make a human resist the mist's hallucinogenic effects," the voice came from her left hand, which had turned glossy blue. "Do you trust me now?"

Mika looked at Brandon, who only smiled. _Daddy knows best. Okay, I'll try to trust the Seed alien in me._

"Let us talk some more. Maybe you'll feel better after that," her left hand said. "Firstly, you should know that we can communicate without speaking. I can read your thoughts."

Mika nodded. _Yes, I get it._

"Good. Now, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Orion. I entered your body when you got a dose of Counter-Seed, or the so-called cure for Seed infection. That drug actually consists of a domesticated Seed alien."

Brandon took a closer look at the hand. A curious "hmm" escaped from his mouth.

"I assimilated with the more aggressive Seed alien in you. Because I can't surface without some mist, you won't have any glossy blue skin whenever you're in a mist-free area." The voice chuckled. "Oh, well, I don't like the term 'alien' by the way. In Planet Methuselah, my home, you humans are the aliens."

Mika laughed softly, while Brandon only grinned.

"Most Methuselah folks hate me, though. I don't intend to take over a human body because I believe that mankind is salvation. Not the mist."

"You mean-"

Orion cut her off. "I'll help you slay the dragon, uncover the mystery of the mist, and get into Metaslica Faculty of Science. If you study hard, I'm sure that you'll find the perfect habitat for the Methuselah folks."

Mika's jaw dropped. This was too good to be true, but Orion could just be lying to earn her trust.

"Give me a chance?" Orion pleaded. "Please?"

Mika only swallowed. Brandon quickly gave her a thumbs-up and a smile to clear her doubts.

Something buzzed and screeched outside. Mika hopped to her feet, her gaze fixated on the incoming crystalline dragonflies behind the windows. They smashed through the glasses and into the house.

When Mika drew her pistol, Orion told her, "Keep that. I'll teach you-" Brandon ran past Mika, the barrel of an assault rifle jutting out of his coffin. "Wait! Let us deal with-"

Bullets sprayed out of the assault rifle and reduced all of the dragonflies to smithereens. Holes littered the wall behind the heaps of crystalline shards.

"Oh my..." Orion murmured. "These dragonflies aren't that threatening, you know?"

Once the barrel retracted, Brandon set down his coffin and seized Mika's blue hand. Pulling it close to his scowling face, he growled, "Threatening or not, you should know the old saying: 'Better safe than sorry.'"

"Don't you want her to grow stronger?"

 _Better stop right there, Orion,_ Mika thought. _He doesn't really like-_

Brandon's words cut her off. "Your plan is risky."

Brandon meant something else; Mika knew it. Her mind quickly translated Brandon's unpleasant tone and sour expression as, _"You don't know fathering better than I do! Don't try to steal my role as her daddy!"_

Buzzes and screeches echoed again. Another swarm of dragonflies flew through the broken windows and towards them.

"Seems like they've located us," Orion said. "We should move out."


	6. On the Move

Mika knew Brandon wouldn't let her and Orion deal with the crystalline dragonflies, so she only stood in silence. For some reason, her left leg moved by itself to knee Brandon's stomach- no, _palm_.

"Should've known that you're that sharp," Orion mumbled. "But at least I tried. Sorry for hijacking your leg, Mika."

Brandon released Mika's left leg, picked up his coffin and charged at the swarm. The humongous bludgeon slammed onto the insects and smashed them to smithereens.

A dragonfly sneaked through the slaughter and flew towards Mika.

"Brandon," Orion called out, "look at this."

"Wha-" Mika's left hand moved by itself to seize the dragonfly by its head. The insect screeched and thrashed, but the tightening grip crushed its skull to pieces and silenced it forever. It dropped down headless, and her hand tossed the remains of its head at the corpse.

"Orion-" Her eyes widened at her left foot, which went to stomp the headless insect by itself.

"I apologize for hijacking again," Orion murmured. "I thought Brandon would see this display of power and be impressed, but he didn't hear me. I guess he's just busy."

 _More like he didn't want to see it, Orion._ Mika watched the last few dragonflies shatter courtesy of Brandon's swinging coffin. _He could actually spare a few seconds to look at us because those insects were nothing for him._

"Anyway, you've seen how strong you've become, right? Trust me. You can even lift Brandon's coffin now."

Mika grinned, but Brandon - who was approaching with the coffin's chains wrapping around his arms - only frowned. He certainly heard about her newfound power; even if he didn't, he couldn't possibly miss the crushed dragonfly beneath her foot. She took a closer look at his scowl, which spelled out, _"I taught you the basics of fighting, not Orion. Superpower is useless in the hands of a person who can't fight."_

"I have to thank you, too," Mika told Brandon with a smile. "If not for you, I would've panicked when a dragonfly flew to me."

Brandon picked Mika up and rushed to the exit. His kick turned the door into a doormat.

A hazy blanket of white greeted them outside. A silver-skinned giant - or rather, bodybuilder on steroids - awaited them in the distance, its height almost equal to a one-story building. Mika had once seen this enemy - the orgman, or "Reorganized Man." The name came from how the low-quality Seed alien in the body transformed one into a mindless tool of destruction: it reorganized one's mind and physical appearance.

 _"Could you say 'low-class Methuselah folk' instead?"_ Orion quipped in her head. _"It's a mouthful, I know, but the word 'alien' really bugs me."_

Brandon set Mika down and brandished his coffin. The barrel of an assault rifle slid out of the weapon container, and bullets sprayed out of it. The incoming orgman - now a piece of humanoid Swiss cheese - stopped in its tracks and collapsed. Its body exploded into silver dust upon crashing to the ground.

The barrel retracted into the smoldering coffin, and the container's chains went to bind themselves around Brandon's upper arms.

"Your weapon is overheating," Orion said. "Take a break, Brandon. Let us deal with-"

Brandon seized Mika's blue hand and gave it a death glare. Silence enveloped the area, at which Mika gulped. It felt as though the fuzzy white tendrils - like a knot of snakes - were slithering along her skin...

Suddenly, her palm shot out a huge ray of light. Brandon pulled away with a groan, his hands making their way to his squinted eyes.

"Orion!" Mika hugged Brandon. "What have you done? You hurt him!"

"Don't worry. It's just temporary blindness," Orion replied. "He needs to learn that I've made you very strong."

"Why can't you just wait a little more? It's not like we won't find more dragonflies or orgmen in the way!" Hearing incoming buzzes, screeches and booming footsteps, she released Brandon and added, "You hear that, right?"

"Um, yes. We'd better deal with them before Brandon regains his vision. Pay attention to your left hand."

Gentle heat crept around her fingers and palm, growing hotter with each passing second. Mika glanced at her hand, above which a swelling orb of light floated. Once the sphere reached the size of a basketball and the heat began searing her palm, Orion commanded, "Throw it."

With a nod, Mika flung the radiant ball at the approaching dragonflies and orgmen. It collided with a dragonfly and exploded, sending crystalline fragments everywhere.

Amazing, but did Orion _really_ have to dazzle Brandon just so that it could teach her this?

_"Sorry, Mika. I'm really sorry."_

Two orgmen made their way out of the blast, their bodies littered with cracks. Mika's left hand warmed up again, but the silver-skinned ogres soon collapsed and burst into dust.

Brandon stood behind Mika, smoke escaping from the muzzles of his twin handguns - Cerberus. He twirled them before storing them in the coffin that hung behind him.

Mika studied Brandon's face. Puckered brow. Gritted teeth. His expression was pretty much yelling, _"I shouldn't have told her to give you a chance, impudent alien!"_

"I apologize for blinding you, but I just want to teach her how to use my power," Orion muttered. "You want her to be strong, right?"

As robotic as Orion's voice sounded, Mika could sense a speckle of guilt in its speech. Her face crumpled as she looked at her left hand, hoping to somehow give the little guy a hug.

Without saying anything, Brandon picked Mika up and hopped onto a two-story shophouse. Up there, his well-built legs propelled him from one building to another.

 _"Uh, I've just extracted a bit of information from your brain, Mika,"_ Orion suddenly spoke in her head. _"Brandon used to date your mother, right? Did Brandon act like this when he saw your mother falling for another man?"_

Mika gasped. "Privacy" was probably something alien to Orion.

_"It's okay. I know what 'privacy' means, which was why I asked you instead of forcing my way into the batch of encrypted information in your brain."_

It sure was a honorable hacker, but nobody liked a hacker anyway. Good thing Brandon had never told Mika anything about the problem in his love life, and she had never bothered asking him because, well, "privacy." Though if Brandon had been jealous, he wouldn't have adopted her when her parents died, would he?

_"You think so? Why wasn't he upset about the relationship then?"_

Mika shook her head. _I wish I know.  
_

_"Make him tell you more about his love life? If I know what made him not jealous at your mother, maybe I can befriend-"_

Brandon suddenly halted, his grip on Mika loosening. Mika landed on her feet and observed him. He stood still, slightly hunched with a gaping mouth and a widened eye.

Mika scanned the surroundings and found thick white wisps. They didn't smell and felt neither cool nor warm to the skin, yet small, prickly goosebumps broke out across her skin. Looking ahead, she could find only hazy whiteness. How tall was the next building? Were there enemies ahead, and what were they? Dragonflies? Orgmen? Other form of Seed abomination?

A crash and a thud drew her attention. Brandon was on his knees, his fingers clawing into the concrete floor of the rooftop. Groans escaped through his gritted teeth.

Mika rushed to the whimpering undead and wrapped her arms around him. His muscles were tense, which stung Mika's heart. "What's wrong..." She tried to call his name, but a "father?" came out from her lips instead.

"It seems like the Methuselah folk in him is surfacing," Orion explained. "The mist here is thick enough to rouse it."

"Thicker mist?"

"Mika, my assimilation with the aggressive folk in you makes me more sensitive to the mist. That's why I can surface with just a little mist, not like the 'pure' folk in Brandon." A pause. "Something's coming from the right."

Mika released Brandon and whirled, her left arm moving by itself to block an incoming silver fist. No, this smaller, leaner guy wasn't a regular orgman. It had a pair of curved horns and leathery wings.

A gargoyle.

Silver knuckles met glossy blue - and occasionally fleshy - arms again and again. The blocked blows slowly pushed Mika to the edge of the roof. Heart pounding hard and fast, she gulped. _It's okay. Brandon has taught me how to fight barehanded. I can do it._

The gargoyle pulled back a fist, at which Mika only stood still. Time to put Brandon's counterattack lessons in a good use.

The fist came and landed in Mika's hands. With a roar, she spun and hurled the gargoyle away. Gentle heat wormed around her left hand as a glowing sphere materialized above her palm.

A boom echoed from behind, and something whirred over her head. Mika looked up, the heat around her hand vanishing. A stout missile rammed into the helpless gargoyle and blasted it to bits.

Mika turned around. A poker-faced Brandon stood in the distance, threads of smoke rising from the coffin in his hands. His jacket and dress shirt were unbuttoned to show off the lustrous blue line that ran down his ripped torso.


	7. Of Love and Mates

_"Gimme a sec, Brandon,"_ a robotic voice spoke in Brandon's head; the words shot out rapidly like bullets from a machine gun. _"I'll make a proper introduction after this."_

Intense heat ran down along the streak of glossy blue on Brandon's torso. The line glowed just like Mika's left hand.

"Orion?" Mika asked.

Brandon approached Mika, who kept staring at the cyan light around her hand. Were the aliens talking privately to each other?

Soon, the radiance around Mika's hand dimmed. Then the heat on Brandon's body faded, and the blue line there stopped glowing.

"You guessed it right," the same rapid robotic voice came from his torso. "It's something personal among us Methuselah folks."

Brandon's face contorted in bewilderment. A talking hand was tolerable, but a talking torso? Ridiculous!

"You'll get used to it. No worries." A pause. "All right, let me introduce myself. My name is Scutum. Your creator chose me to infect your corpse for two reasons. One, you always tried to protect your loved ones during your mortal life. Two, I'm known as 'The Shield.'"

Mika stroked her chin with a finger. "That means you can teach Brandon how to cast a barrier?"

"Teach?" Scutum laughed. "I can generate a barrier whenever he's attacked in such a misty region. Try punching him, Mika."

"But-" Her left hand curled into a fist and ripped through the air. A thick wall of glass stopped the blow and vanished once Mika retreated.

"Sorry for hijacking," Orion said, "but I noticed that you were unwilling to give Scutum a chance just because your target was Brandon."

Mika's worried look turned into a smile. "No problem. Now, I'm even more confident that with Brandon around, we can slay the dragon!"

Brandon nodded with a grin. A talking torso wasn't that bad after all; with its power, he could protect Mika even better.

"That's one of my specialties," Scutum bragged. "I'm also great at sculpting."

Mika quirked an eyebrow. "Sculpting?"

Brandon's smile melted into a frown. Scutum had better not spend too much time on bragging, especially not about a worthless skill.

"Just look at these pecs and abs, Mika. I created them by restructuring Brandon's body composition." Scutum laughed again. "Don't they look great?"

Hmm, not bad. Brandon did like how his body looked. Rock-hard pecs and six-pack abs aside, he also had a narrow waist and a set of artfully sculpted lats, delts, and biceps. With a pair of solid thighs and calves, he could easily become a model for _Men's Health_ magazines. Too bad humans never liked the undead.

"Brandon always looks great," Mika said rather plainly.

"No credits for me? Come on, I've also given him big guns."

Mika blinked. "You created Cerberus? I'm pretty sure that Brandon's creator crafted those guns... Or did you mean something else?"

"'Guns' is also a slang for the muscles on your upper arms," Brandon chimed in, his words coated in annoyance. Damned thing really had to stop bragging now.

Scutum questioned in his head, _"What's the matter? I'm just talking about my talent, you know?"_

A growl escaped through Brandon's gritted teeth. Talent, eh? What if he had died with a potbelly instead? Could this boastful little alien make him this ripped?

_"It'll just take more time."_

"Done talking, Scutum?" Orion asked. "With so much mist, it's not good to stay in one place for so long. Especially not for bragging."

Brandon looked around and noticed the thick wisps of white. He could still tell the height of the neighboring buildings, but whether there were enemies or not, he didn't know. However, he could somehow feel the presence of stronger abominations ahead.

There was no telling when a fight would destroy a building, and Mika couldn't possibly survive a fall.

So he picked Mika up and hopped off the building. When his feet crashed into the pavement, his ears registered an audible sigh from her left hand. He hissed while letting Mika go; an alien would never make a better father than an earthling, 'nuff said.

_"It's okay to give Orion a chance, Brandon._ _We Methuselah folks care a lot about our hosts' survival."_

They cared? Well, hadn't Scutum been leeching off his blood and threatening to destroy his body once it could no longer sustain the parasite?

"No, no, no! You got it all wrong!" Scutum suddenly exclaimed. "I'm never that terrible, you know? In fact, I always try not to consume too much blood just so that you can last longer. You, as a corpse, can't produce blood by yourself."

"Really?" Mika asked, walking along the desolate pavement with Brandon.

"Scutum speaks the truth," Orion replied. "I haven't told you this, but yes, we Methuselah folks always try our best to keep our hosts alive. Why? Because if something goes wrong with our hosts' bodies, we'll die."

"In Brandon's case, when he runs out of blood, I'll die," Scutum added. "When that happens, Brandon will disintegrate. If you wonder why he won't rot like a typical corpse, well, it's because his body cells aren't those of an earthling's anymore. I've altered them so that I can live in him."

Mika halted and shuddered. Giving Mika a hug and patting her back, Brandon looked at his torso and growled. Scutum was such an insensitive jerk for haunting Mika's mind with the image of her petite body crumbling to dust.

_"I'm sorry, but that's the truth. With Orion in her, Mika's cells have also changed."_

Brandon released Mika and shrugged; at least this little pest had decided to speak just in his head.

As they resumed their walk, Scutum questioned in Brandon's head, _"Are earthlings always so protective of their children?"_

Ah, aliens could never have children, could they? Brandon still couldn't tell Scutum's - and even Orion's - gender either.

"Interesting question," Scutum's voice escaped from the line. "We don't have a gender, but we can mate. We call the process 'DNA trade,' which is quite similar to the sexual reproduction of bacteria."

Brandon gritted his teeth in exasperation; did Scutum know that studying science always threatened to toast his brain? Also, could this alien ever learn how to speak more slowly?

"Um, what do you guys look like actually?" Mika asked. "Rod-shaped like bacteria?"

"More like amoebas. We're microscopic and shapeless," Orion answered; its slow, gentle voice cooled Brandon's head. "Anyway, a Methuselah folk can perform a DNA trade only once in a lifetime. Two virgin folks need to get to know each other before they can trade their genetic materials. When the exchange is done, each folk can split once to create an offspring."

"Virgin?"

"Those who have never traded genetic materials are called 'virgin folks' in Planet Methuselah." A pause. "Doesn't 'virgin' mean something similar in human community?"

"Um, yeah."

"The process can be annoying," Scutum - or rather, Machine Gun Mouth - added. "Another folk can steal your potential mate, and your potential mate can just leave you and seek another folk. Those incidents hurt a lot."

Brandon nodded. So, they also knew a feeling called "heartbroken." He had experienced- no, _deserved_ that painful feeling. Maria - Mika's mother - had left him because he had never cared; all he had in his mind that time was just work, work, and work.

Thanks to Mika's existence, he could now atone for his mistakes. He had also sworn to himself that he would never, ever fall in love again. Luckily, his putrid body odor - which Mika had grown used to - drove humans away more often than not.

Amazing how the musing could sear his heart and bring tears into his eye...

_"Is it normal for an earthling to never mate? From a quick scan of your brain and body, I notice that you're forty-four but still a virgin."_

"Shut up!" Brandon snapped, blood rushing into his cheeks. The nerve! If Scutum had been a concrete being outside his body, he'd have kicked its ass so hard that it'd land on its home planet.

Screech!

Brandon and Mika stopped their walk. Crystalline dragonflies and silver gargoyles came flying from all directions; without any sort of weapons other than pointy appendages for the insects and massive fists for the winged beast men, they were nothing but harmless pests.

 _Raging Inferno,_ his heart commanded as he brandished his coffin. The barrel of an assault rifle emerged at the tip of the coffin, and he jumped and whirled. Bullets sprayed out of his spinning form and created a rain of smithereens and silver dust.

Landing on the ground, Brandon looked up. A small swarm of dragonflies survived, but a sphere of light soon slammed onto one of them and blasted them to bits.

"See how strong Mika has become?" Orion's proud voice came from behind him.

With the coffin's chains wrapped around his upper arms, Brandon growled. Trying to rival him, eh? Well, an alien would never be a better father than an earthling. Brandon had taught Mika not to panic when an enemy approached, while Orion had only taught her to throw an explosive orb. Without his lesson, his child couldn't possibly wield the superpower so well.

 _"You really should try seeing Orion as your friend,"_ Scutum quipped in his head. _"Both of you are doing your best to take care of Mika."_

Brandon sighed and resumed his journey with Mika, ethereal tendrils creeping around him, his child, and the surrounding tenements. A few moments later, they reached a crossroad with dead traffic lights. A 7-Eleven convenience store stood across them, surrounded by shophouses with open doors.

"It's the heart of the slum," Mika told him. "Be careful."

His ears registered some groans and scraping sounds from the distance. The further he went, the clearer the noises grew. Also, he began seeing four-winged figures everywhere.

One of them - a woman - shuffled past a street sign and towards them, her head tilted. "H-help," she groaned, reaching out a shaky hand while looking at Brandon with her compound eyes. As she drew closer, Brandon spotted a pair of small antennae on her head. Swaying scissor-like appendages surrounded her gaping mouth.


	8. Incomplete Infection

No puppeteer would ever want to have Brandon as a marionette. Although Scutum had made him grab a Cerberus handgun from the open coffin behind him, he dropped the weapon back into the container. Then his arm - against his will - went to retrieve the gun.

Effing alien! Why did it want to kill a _woman_ so badly?

The struggle for dominance lasted for a few seconds, and the alien triumphed at the end. Good thing the woman had been staring at him instead of making a move.

 _"You have to trust me!"_ Scutum told him, directing his aim to the woman's head.

The woman groaned. Tears streamed out of her compound eyes as she begged, "No. Please pull this dragonfly out of me. It's gnawing on my head."

 _You hear that, little pest?_ Brandon hissed. Struggling against Scutum's control made Brandon's trigger finger tremble, but Scutum eventually beat him again. The woman collapsed with a gaping hole on her forehead.

 _Damn you, alien,_ Brandon cursed in his heart, his jaw clenched. He turned to see Mika standing still with her mouth ajar. It wasn't shock; instead, it was another case of hijacking. The Mika he knew would've knocked the gun out of his hand or at least shouted at him.

"Sorry, but this was the best for the dragonfly woman," Orion spoke through Mika's left hand. "Let's find a shelter. We'll explain what's actually happening."

Brandon nodded with a growl and looked around. The doors of the surrounding shophouses were all open, but the lights within were all dead. Luckily, the bit of sunshine that went through the mist illuminated the insides and revealed the lack of creatures.

No. Monsters of the mist could just hide in a place where the sunlight couldn't reach; Brandon knew it because his instinct said so.

So he ran into the nearest shophouse with a silent Mika in tow. Orion must've kept her mouth shut. Literally.

The mist-ridden shophouse was like a tunnel with metallic racks containing mixers, rolling pins, and baking ingredients as the walls. Torn bags of flour lay on the floor, turning the path into a winter obstacle course. The human footprints on the flour-covered ground led to the building's exit instead of the darkness ahead, but the hair on the back of Brandon's neck rose as though somebody - or _something_ \- was left behind.

He stopped and whistled. A screeching gargoyle bolted out of the darkness like a missile.

Brandon shoved his handgun into the creature's gaping maw, directed it towards its brain and fired. A bullet ripped through the gargoyle's skull, and the winged monstrosity went limp. With the gun pulled out, the gargoyle plummeted like a rock and burst into silver dust upon hitting the ground.

"I think we should go deeper, Brandon," Scutum suggested. "Nothing can interrupt our talk in there."

"And let Mika lead the way," Orion spoke from behind him.

Brandon turned around, eager to snarl, but the desire subsided when he saw bluish white flame roaring on Mika's left hand. His eyebrow quirked.

Mika smiled a bit; Brandon believed she still hadn't gotten over the murder of the dragonfly woman. "Orion taught me this." She walked past Brandon with her torching hand aloft. "Let's go."

Brandon sighed and followed her into the depths of the shophouse, his gun ready. Once the spherical illumination revealed the absence of metallic racks, he immediately rushed to her side. Stupid Orion forgot to think just how the hell Mika could defend herself with one busy hand.

"Getting hit by a torch isn't a pleasant experience," Scutum told him.

"It definitely isn't," Orion added, "especially when the flame comes from me. It can melt pure gold with ease."

Brandon growled, wondering if Scutum's boastful nature had bled into Orion. Right now, he couldn't feel any heat from the fire.

Much to his annoyance, _Mika_ said, "Orion told me that this flame is special." Her tone wasn't as excited as he had expected, though, but it might just be the scar left by the death of the dragonfly woman.

"Yes. Whether it will cause a mess or not, it all depends on me."

"It's pretty cool, isn't it?"

Why did searing pain radiate in his head all of a sudden? The sensation spread across his face, with his forehead and nose burning the worst.

 _"Let's just say that 'flame of jealousy' is roaring in your skull,"_ Scutum joked in his head.

If only he could scream without risking their hidden state... Oh, well, at least snarling alleviated the burning pain a little.

_"Come on. I'm sure that Mika will always consider you as her number one, no matter how impressive Orion is."_

Brandon nodded with a sigh.

"I think this is deep and safe enough," Orion suddenly said. "There's no chair or couch around, though."

Brandon and Mika stopped their walk.

"All right. Well, do you still remember the woman's request to pull the dragonfly out of her?" Scutum asked.

"Yeah," Mika answered. "What's wrong with that?"

"Had you listened to her, it'd have resulted in a bloody mess. The dragonfly was only _attached_ to her. You can say that it was like a plug."

"It was a case of incomplete infection," Orion added. "Because the dragonfly hadn't overtaken her body, the woman still retained a bit of her conscience. However, this will eventually develop into complete infection and the woman will become something else."

"We can't save her by taking her to a mist-free area either. The dragonfly will die and... Yeah, I bet you know what will happen when the plug is gone."

Mika shuddered, prompting Brandon to hug her. The fire on her hand licked his face; it felt like a dog's tongue, except that it was cool and free from saliva.

When Mika returned his embrace with a one-armed one and buried her face into his stacked abs, soothing coolness streamed into his burning skull. Nothing could beat him when it came to comforting her. Not even Orion.

Pulling away, Mika asked, "So, why did incomplete infection happen?"

"Some hosts have a very strong mind," Scutum replied. "This keeps the dragonflies - and even upper-class folks like us - from overtaking their bodies, but once it falters, complete infection will happen."

Brandon let out a contemplative "hmm." Scutum's words reminded him of his friend: a blind undead man who practiced the _Kutaba Ryu_ _Meditation_ to keep the alien from overtaking his body. Where had he and the haunted guitar gone anyway? Could they survive the mist outbreak?

Crash!

The flame on Mika's hand died out, but beams of light from behind replaced the missing illumination. Brandon released Mika and whirled to see a massive hole on the ceiling, from which yellowish white radiance poured in.

A bipedal creature stood amid the heap of debris, its leathery wings spread. Its blue scales sparkled under the sunlight like literal sapphires. Its head was like that of a dragon's, goat's, unicorn's and rhino's smashed into one, but seeing scales, wings and claws, Brandon would just call it a dragon. Funnily enough, it was just a little taller than him.

The blue dragon charged headfirst, at which Brandon tossed his gun into the open coffin and brandished the weapon container. The horns and tusks slammed onto the coffin, and with a roar, the dragon knocked it out of Brandon's hands and into the air.

Silly thing didn't know his experience in close combat, did it? With a plain face, Brandon grabbed its oversized tusk and smashed the dragon against the ground and the wall several times. When the coffin landed behind him, Brandon flung the dragon away. From beside him, Mika tossed an orb of light at the creature before retreating.

The sphere exploded with a loud boom. When the blast cleared, Brandon's eye widened. Had nearsightedness plagued him? He saw not even a scratch on the dragon's scaly body.

Just as he recovered his coffin, the dragon swerved and charged at him again. It roared as it closed in, showing off the jagged teeth that made his mouth look like a bear trap.

 _Death Blow,_ he commanded. The upper-half of the coffin split open, and a metallic barrel slid out of the opening. He jammed it into the dragon's maw and fired. The recoil pushed him back and slammed him into a wall.

The dragon's body lay a few feet away him, bleeding out from the smoldering stump of its head. Brandon remained poker-faced; in a fight, one should always expect the worst.

"This must be the dragon everybody has been talking about." Mika ran towards the motionless body with a smile. "Let's bring it to Metaslica University."

How rash! With the coffin's chains wrapping around his upper arms, Brandon rushed to Mika and let her bump into his body instead. He looked down at her and shook his head.

"But-"

A shrill roar echoed. Brandon turned to see the dragon rise into the air, its head regrown. He gritted his teeth as he drew his Cerberus handguns from the coffin _._ How well would dual railguns do?

The dragon rocketed into the gray sky and glided away from them.

Snarling in annoyance, Brandon fired potshots at the fleeing dragon. In no way he could use his dual railguns now; the weapons took some time to charge up, and by the time they discharged the humongous plasma projectiles, the dragon must've gone from his sight.

"Brandon, stop!" Mika called out, wrapping her little arms around his waist. "Let's follow it instead."

Brandon lowered his guns with a frown. Once Mika released him, they left the ruined shophouse together. The dragon was still in the sky, slowly flying over a street sign that said, _"South City, 30 km ahead."_


	9. Fiery Fool

_Blue Lightning, don't give up now.  
_

Yet Billy's guitar wouldn't stop smoldering. His body wouldn't stop losing its opacity either. Why did Jyuji have to go and leave him alone to survive in the misty forest of concrete called "South City?"

A horde of orgmen came at him, denting the asphalt road with each step. Face hardened with determination, Billy strummed a series of discordant chords. Wild arcs of blue electricity crackled across his guitar and forced more fume out of the musical instrument.

As the silver-skinned ogres drew closer, Billy ended his play. A steady stream of electricity poured out of the guitar, struck the incoming orgmen and reduced them to ashes.

Four orgmen survived the carnage. Behind them, more gigantic humanoid silhouettes were coming.

Gripping his smoldering guitar tightly, Billy launched himself up into the gray sky. He should've escaped instead of fighting back earlier; his guitar couldn't shoot lightning forever. If the instrument broke, either destroyed by the orgmen or the overheating system, Billy would fade away.

Two orgmen jumped at him, their arms spread. Billy tossed the guitar up and let the ogres pass through his semi-transparent figure.

 _I do miss a good hug as a ghost, but bear hugs? No, thank you._ Billy caught his falling guitar by its fingerboard and glided away with a grin; somehow, it felt good to crack a joke in such a dire situation. As the redness faded from the teal electric guitar, Billy's body regained its opacity.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Billy flew into the gap between two shoddy apartment complexes. Good thing South City had a lot of passageways amid the residential buildings, which formed a secure escape route for Billy because orgmen were too big to enter the narrow paths.

When the end of the passage came to his sight, Billy halted and readied his guitar. Orgmen roamed the street down there, looking around for an intruder. Luckily, they never thought of looking _up_.

Just as Billy prepared himself to play another set of irregular, dissonant chords, he heard someone scream, "Fire Breath!" The masculine voice sounded rather light, quite fitting for a boy who had just gone through puberty.

Looking at the now wary orgmen, Billy smacked his palm against his forehead and sighed. This guy was new to fighting and Seed business, wasn't he? As far as Billy knew, the Seed in someone's body never required one to call the name of the attack out loud to summon its power; instead, one could just mention the correct password - the name of the attack - in the heart.

As the orgmen ran to where the shout came from, a massive gush of flame streamed along the road and consumed them. When the blaze cleared, the silver-skinned giants - now charred with gray smoke escaping from their bodies - roared and continued their stride.

"C'mon, musclebound morons! I can't wait to burn ya to a crisp!"

Bestial roars and deafening booms echoed; amid them, Billy heard more taunts from that teen and cringed. Had this noisy fighter met Jyuji, he'd have swallowed a fireball... Oh, wait. This guy breathed fire, so fireballs would make a tasty meal for him instead.

As irritating as this guy was, Billy glided out of the passageway and strummed his guitar; teens would always need an adult's protection in such a dangerous area. Electricity danced across the body of the glowing instrument, and when Billy stopped the play, lightning bolts went hurtling towards the advancing giants.

The orgmen shrieked as their scorched bodies crumbled to dust.

"Fire Hook! Fire Uppercut! Fire Straight!" The teen - a little _Human Torch_ \- finished off the three remaining ogres with a flurry of flaming fists. Amazing how he could scream so much and come up with so many names for his fiery punches in a fight.

If this guy wanted to keep that silly habit, he'd better learn to weaponize his scream. Ruptured eardrums hurt like hell.

As Billy glided down, the flaming teen grinned broadly. "Hey, thanks for your help, Mr. Guitarist Ghost!"

"How did you know that I'm a ghost?"

"You fly." He snickered. "And the mist goes through you."

"Good catch, kid."

The teen flicked his fingers. With the coat of flame around him fading, Billy could now take a better look at the guy's appearance. He stood a little over five feet tall with a hairstyle that looked like the quills of a porcupine. His crimson tank top, which matched the color of his hair, couldn't conceal the large patch of glossy blue skin around his neck and clavicles.

Oh, this guy liked the color red, just like him. However, Billy preferred being colorful, so his outfit was a mesh of primary colors: red for his cardigan and pants, blue for the stripes of his white t-shirt and yellow for the huge lightning-like "B" on the back of his cardigan.

The teen pointed a thumb at his own chest. "The name's Glenn Summers. You?"

"I'm Billy the Friendly Ghost." Billy laughed. Yeah, laughing was healthy, at least for him.

"Billy? Oh, wait, you're Rocketbilly Redcadillac," a robotic voice spoke through the patch of blue skin. "I know you. You halted the Methuselah's previous invasion with Jyuji and the legendary Beyond the Grave."

Billy gasped, his guitar fumbling out of his hands. "What? You aliens can actually _speak_?" He caught the instrument before it hit the ground.

Suddenly, booming footsteps came from behind Glenn as five gigantic humanoid silhouettes drew closer. The teen turned and scolded, "You're really late, guys."

Billy's eyes widened at the approaching figures. How the heck could this boy befriend _orgmen_? Though unlike the ones he had just met, these ogres wore shades and suits.

Glenn shifted his gaze to Billy. "Don't worry about these orgmen. They're part of the South City Exploration Team."

Billy shuddered. "What the hell! You're still a teen, you know? Don't you have parents?"

"I've been living in an orphanage since I was four."

"Anyway, you're supposed to study at school instead of fighting monsters!"

"The dean of Metaslica University chose me to lead these orgmen." Glenn pointed at the lustrous blue skin of his neck. "Then he ordered some scientists to inject a Seed alien named Fornax into me."

"Why did you accept the offer?" Brow furrowing in anger, Billy approached Glenn. "The state of Billion isn't a playground!"

"I wanna be a superhero. The dean gave me the chance to be one. Why not?"

"Superheroes _only_ exist in fairy tales."

"People just never try hard enough to be one!"

A hiss escaped through Billy's gritted teeth. No wonder why the dean - a snake - picked the naive, foolish mouse that was Glenn.

"It's okay, Billy," Fornax assured. "I've taught him how to use his superpower."

"I'm getting you outta here!" Billy glided over Glenn. Hovering above the friendly orgmen, he added, "C'mon, kid!"

"Why don't we just team up?" Glenn suggested. "We can roast everything in our way!"

"Let me tell you once more, 'The state of Billion isn't a playground!' Sure, you can defeat orgmen easily, but what about the bigger, scarier monsters?"

"That's the challenge I must face to be a superhero, and I ain't gonna-"

The approaching scamper of eight legs cut him off. Rapid, rhythmic clacks followed.

"I'll show you how I beat this big guy!" Glenn exclaimed. "Fire Up, Fornax!"

Billy turned. A ten-meter tall scorpion with the upper body of a bare-chested man stood in the distance, waving his four snapping pincers - two of them came from the human half, while the two bigger ones came from the scorpion half. The torso and the head lacked the crystalline plates that covered the lower-half of his body, but how the hell could Billy and Glenn hit the weak spots? The creature also had a segmented stinger tail that hung just a few meters above its bald head.

The blazing Glenn barreled towards the scorpion man while shouting at the top of his lungs, prompting his classy giant buddies to follow him. Billy was no expert in orgmen language, but he somehow sensed concern in their shrieks.

 _Better lend them a hand._ Billy plucked a set of smooth, flowing notes. Tiny cracks of shock built up across the body of the guitar and flowed along the fingerboard.

Glenn jumped over the scorpion man's swiping pincers and barraged the fleshy torso with fiery punches and kicks, screaming, "Fire Punch! Fire Kick!" over and over again. They left nothing but minor burns and bruises that healed up very quickly.

The scorpion man grinned at Glenn, his stinger tail coming down upon the teen.

"Glenn!" The broken concentration ended Billy's performance and dispelled the electricity he had conjured.

An orgman tackled Glenn out of harm's way, and the tail pierced through the ogre's spine. Grinning even more broadly and maliciously, the scorpion man wagged his tail to show off the limp orgman. The body soon disintegrated, and the worn suit and shades fell to the ground.

"You killed my friend!" Glenn yelled, charging at the scorpion again. "You're gonna-" An orgman seized his arms. "Hey, let me go! I wanna beat-"

The orgman glanced at Billy and yipped before flinging Glenn over an apartment complex. Then it joined its comrades in pummeling the scorpion man.

As the thrashing pincers crushed the ogres one-by-one, Billy nodded and shot up into the air. He'd protect Glenn and play a melancholy tune for the ogre later, to replace the tears he could never shed for it.


	10. Old Friends

Billy thought a post-apocalyptic movie director would get a good scenery up here. The thick blanket of gray above him sifted the sunlight into beams of yellowish radiance. Fuzzy white tendrils crept around his guitar and the shoddy apartment complexes below.

Spotting a humanoid figure on one of the rooftops, Billy swooped down. He wished he could gulp as a ghost; the figure neither screamed nor moved. Also, there was no fire.

He closed in and saw Glenn, who stood still with his mouth agape and his fists clenched. Billy waved a hand at him, but the teen only moved his eyes; it reminded Billy of the spooky picture pranks he liked to pull. "Glenn," he muttered, "you okay?"

"Fornax here," a robotic voice came from the patch of glossy blue skin around his neck. "Glenn is fine. I just stopped him from screaming and drawing unwanted attention."

Billy jerked away, almost dropping his guitar. "You _hijacked_ his body!"

"It's for his sake."

Billy hovered backwards with a wince. No, please no. Jyuji transforming into a dragon due to the Seed alien in him was more than enough already.

"Billy, you have to trust me."

Billy tightened his grip around the fingerboard of his guitar; the instrument trembled along with his hand. "No way!" The image of the transforming Jyuji flashed across his mind, and he gritted his teeth. "I saw what your pal did to my friend!"

"Maybe it's weird for you and even the rest of my kind, but I'm no longer interested in overtaking a human body," Fornax said. "Humans have kept me well-fed in the lab and changed my view about them. Perhaps someday, they can create a nutrient-rich medium for me to live in."

"What for? You guys love being in humans and corpses!"

"Living in a human body isn't as nice as you think, especially when your host is an extremely reckless boy. I must keep Glenn from doing anything stupid because if he dies, I'll die as well."

Glenn's body twitched as his face reddened with anger. Suddenly, he thrashed. "I'm not stupid! I'm just doing what I gotta do!"

"Glenn!" Billy called out.

"You can't hold me back forever, Fornax!" Glenn jumped again and again as though he was on a trampoline. More cracks forked across the concrete floor whenever his feet hit the ground. "I'm gonna beat that scorpion monster and there's no stopping me!"

Billy facepalmed. _Okay, I guess Fornax isn't as bad as I think. This kid is better off hijacked and restrained._

"Don't you want to win, Glenn?" Fornax asked.

"Hell yeah!"

"Then we'll need a strategy."

"Strategy? Burn hotter! Hit harder and faster!" Glenn ran past Billy, a layer of blaze coating his body. "Where's that scorpion guy? I'm all fired up!"

"You untamed brat," Fornax grumbled. "Billy, please lend us a hand in the fight. I cannot restrain this boy."

If Fornax couldn't even hijack Glenn, then Billy had better give up all the hopes to take the teen out of the danger zone. "Sure thing," he replied, tailing Glenn to the edge of the rooftop with his guitar ready. Rapid clacks echoed across the gray horizon.

"There you are!" Glenn suddenly screamed.

Billy sighed; at least if Glenn kept quiet, they could catch their foe off-guard. The scorpion man clung to the brownish wall of the apartment across them. Waving his snapping pincers with a grin, he hooked his segmented tail on the ledge of the rooftop above him.

"I'll burn ya to a crisp!"

Glenn jumped at the scorpion man, and Billy's jaw dropped. For God's sake, they were thirty stories above the ground! Fornax could probably help the teen endure a fall, but better safe than sorry.

Still grinning, the scorpion man stood still and let Glenn land on his broad back.

"Watch out, Glenn! That's obviously a trap!" Billy warned.

Yet Glenn stood firmly on the silent monstrosity and pummeled the creature's head, shouting, "Fire Punch!" over and over again.

As annoyingly reckless as Glenn was, Billy wouldn't want to see him die; this thickheaded bozo was still _a teen_ of all people. Billy mentioned the password _Thunder Love_ in his heart, and the body of his guitar split open to reveal a retractable crimson cannon. It slid out of the opening.

The scorpion man chuckled, his minor burns and bruises healing up as fast as they appeared. His tail remained still.

Billy shivered a bit at first, but he quickly recuperated. Guitar-cannon pointed at the scorpion man, he strummed a set of ascending and descending chords. Circular arcs of electricity crackled across the barrel and converged into a growing orb of shock at the muzzle.

In a flash, the stinger tail came down upon Glenn. The pointy tip burst out of the teen's chest and splattered blood across the creature's bald head.

Glenn punched no more, and his fire vanished along with the patch of blue skin around his neck.

Billy's play stopped abruptly, and the ball lightning and the crackling electricity vanished. No word came out of his wide-open mouth.

"I won't..." Glenn croaked. "I won't..."

"Give up? You think this is a kid's show where sheer determination will always prevail?" Laughing, the scorpion man lifted Glenn's skewered body into the air and waved it. The teen's limbs flailed weakly as he coughed up blood.

Brow furrowing in anger, Billy hammered on the guitar and ended the upbeat tune with a perfect cadence. A glowing bolt of blue electricity ripped through the air and towards the scorpion man, who quickly flung _Glenn_ at the lightning.

The teen's ear-splitting howl of agony overshadowed Billy's loud, "No!" and the creature's cackling laughter. Glenn's bulging eyes rolled upwards, and his mouth opened so wide that the surrounding muscles might just tear off.

The shriek and the lightning died out, and Glenn's charred, motionless body plummeted into the misty abyss below. Billy would never forget that blank white-eyed stare from the teen's corpse.

Ghosts could never cry, but why should he care about the inability when his guitar-cannon was available as an outlet for emotions? Roaring, Billy rapidly jammed the chords for Thunder Love. The crimson barrel glowed and crackled with rings of electricity; this time, the ball lightning on the muzzle grew twice as fast.

The scorpion man sprang at him. Backing away, Billy took aim with his guitar-cannon and closed off the music with a string of bass chords.

Just as the creature's segmented legs struck the concrete, the cannon unleashed a massive laser beam. It went clean through the upper-half of the scorpion man, leaving smoldering stumps on where his humanoid torso and stinger tail used to be.

The creature's arms went limp, and the pincers smashed into the ground. The armored body of the scorpion stood still on its eight legs.

"Glenn isn't coming back, but it feels good to kill you!" Billy twirled his reverting guitar-cannon in the air and caught it. Turning around to leave, he spat, "Jerk!"

Something clacked.

Billy whirled, and his eyes widened. The armored body scuttled towards him, its pincers swiping through the misty air. Blood gushed out of the stumps and transformed into the lost torso and tail.

Still alive? Fine, Billy would just lase the scorpion man until the creature truly died. With the cannon summoned, Billy shot up into the air, dodged the creature's advance and played the chords for Thunder Love again.

A bestial roar from behind cut Billy off. He turned around, only to see a blue blur swooping past his body. It seized the reverting guitar and yanked it up along with him.

The creature slowed down, and Billy recognized what this winged, scaly _thing_ was. Its ridged head housed numerous horns and tusks - two from a goat, one from a unicorn and three from a rhino. Its eyes emitted the same cyan radiance that Jyuji hid behind his blindfold.

It- no, _he_ was Jyuji; why he no longer burned like when he first transformed, nobody knew. Funny how his mere appearance made Billy no longer interested in killing the giant scorpion guy.

"Draco!" the scorpion man called out.

Wings flapping slowly but strongly, the dragon pointed at the guitar. "This small fry isn't our target, Scorpius." His voice - although a bit robotic - sounded just as deep as Jyuji's.

"But-"

"Beyond the Grave is coming." The dragon tossed the instrument away, at the direction where he came from.

Skidding through the air along with his guitar, Billy shuddered at the name "Beyond the Grave." Sure, they used to fight together, but what if Grave met the recently transformed Jyuji? Wouldn't he want to slay the dragon?

 _Mika_ , he recalled. As far as he knew, Grave - sometimes called as "Mika's attack dog" - would only act according to the girl's orders. If she wanted him to save the world, he'd do it. If she wanted him to destroy it instead, he'd also do it.

Swaying her was the key to saving Jyuji.

Regaining his composure, Billy flew lower and ahead. No orgmen roamed the streets; instead, Billy found silver dust everywhere. The wind blew the particles against and through his body.

Billy heard more noises as he went further. The inharmonious orchestra consisted of incredibly high-pitched shrieks, booming footsteps and explosions.

He spotted a silver-haired girl in the distance, and his jaw dropped. Had Grave been training Mika so rigorously? She now had a pair of long, muscular legs, and her leather jacket - covered in silver dust - made her shoulders look so broad. A large patch of glossy blue skin ran down the left side of her face and towards her left hand; it seemed like she also had somebody like Fornax in her.

Four orgmen stood around her, their fangs bared. Mika simply stared at them with her fists clenched. At this, Billy readied his guitar; despite having thunder thighs and a Seed alien in her, Mika was still an eighteen-year-old _girl_.

The orgmen charged. Billy had only plucked a note when Mika dived out of harm's way and let the ogres slam onto each other. With the giants down, Mika drew her pistol and pointed it at them. Billy couldn't help but mouth a, "Whoa!" when the gun glowed. From its muzzle a flurry of incandescent needles escaped.

The ogres howled in agony when the needles struck them. Cracks spread across their body, and they eventually crumbled to dust.

Billy gasped, propelling himself backwards. Was she even the same girl he met last year, the girl who relied on Grave to do most of the fighting for her?

She turned. Reluctantly, Billy flew down to greet her.

Mika smiled at him and holstered her gun. "Mr. Billy!"

Ah, so she still retained that friendliness despite the badassery. Billy returned the smile. "I thought I once told you to drop the 'Mister.' Y'know, you made me feel old." He grinned broadly, hoping that Mika would do the same or better, laugh. He could use a bit of sunshine in a gloomy day.

"Okay, Billy," she replied. "How have you been? Where's Mr. Jyuji?"

Billy's expression darkened at the last question. Looking down with trembling lips, he muttered, "He is...the dragon."


	11. Fear the Stinger

Brandon twirled his Cerberus handguns triumphantly as the last few orgmen disintegrated. After storing his weapons in his coffin, he retraced his steps to where he had left Mika.

 _"Orgmen are no big deal for her and Orion,"_ Scutum spoke in his head. _"In fact, you'll regret not watching your child kick their ass."_

Brandon sighed. Mika would have to fight by herself to be a competent fighter, but there was always some kind of nagging feeling whenever he left her alone. Could her body handle an orgman's punch?

_"Don't worry. Orion has dulled her pain perception and granted her some regenerative powers."_

Damned thing had never seen a snapped bone popping out of one's flesh, eh? No girl could stand such a bloody sight.

_"I see what you see, Brandon. This includes the various injuries you've suffered throughout your undead life."_

With a frown, Brandon focused on the environment. Fuzzy wisps of white roamed the empty neighborhood and crept around the surrounding apartment complexes and street signs. Whatever lay in the distance looked more like something out of a black and white TV: silhouettes of various sizes amid the hazy whiteness.

Brandon spotted two humanoid silhouettes. The rather short one was Mika's; Brandon recognized it from the short hair and the broad shoulders. He wasn't quite sure about the tall and lanky one beside Mika, but the guitar-like figure in its hands and the huge tusk-like extension on its head reminded him of someone familiar.

Brandon closed in and saw Billy, his old friend, a ghost whose teal electric guitar could shoot thunder bolts and lasers. Just like last year, he still had that blonde lightning-shaped pompadour. His matching set of red cardigan and pants, combined with a blue striped t-shirt, always tempted Brandon to call him Mr. Primary Color.

"It's Grave!" He smiled; Brandon noticed the unnatural contraction of his facial muscles. "How have you been?" A scowling Mika stood beside the ghost, looking down at the cracked asphalt road.

"Brandon," Orion's robotic voice came from Mika's left hand, "please talk some sense into these two. They wish to spare the dragon."

Brandon's eye widened. Seriously, why? The beast had attacked him earlier!

Billy glowered at Mika's hand, tightening his grip on the fingerboard of his guitar. "The dragon is actually Jyuji, you know? He's our friend!"

"He _was_ ," Orion corrected.

Mika looked up at Brandon, her eyes glistening with tears. "Can we...just avoid the dragon and go straight to Central Billion instead? Uncovering the mystery of the mist should be enough to impress the Metaslica authorities."

Brandon shook his head.

"The hell?" Billy stormed towards Brandon. "Jyuji and you worked together to stop the Methuselah's invasion last year! You two are like brothers, you know?"

Brandon crossed his arms over his chest. "I once met a boy in the orphanage and grew up with him. Then we joined the state's biggest mafia organization. We helped each other to reach the top, but then..." He pointed at the patch of pale skin on where his left eye used to be. "This."

"Jyuji-"

"Will attack us when he sees it fit," Brandon continued. "Even someone you've known for decades can kill you."

"You jerk!"

"Am not." Brandon walked past Billy and towards the tearful Mika. Wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her close, he asked, "How important is your dream to you?"

Tugging at Brandon's unbuttoned jacket and dress shirt, Mika looked up. "But the dragon is Mr. Jyuji."

"Is Jyuji more important than your dream?"

"He was our friend!" Mika scrunched the fabric in her hands. "We should talk to him!"

"Mika," Orion spoke from her hand, "the dragon is no longer Jyuji. The Methuselah folk in him has taken over his body, and unfortunately for him, it worships the mist."

"But-"

A bestial roar resounded above them. Looking up, Brandon saw a winged figure streaking across the gray sky. Horns and tusks of various sizes and shapes jutted out of its ridged head.

"Jyuji!" Billy rocketed into the sky, only to stop in his tracks and strum his guitar. A large swarm of gargoyles came down upon him.

Brandon released Mika, mentioning _Raging Inferno_ as he brandished his coffin. Nope, he would kill the gargoyles for Mika, not for the selfish ghost who had been a bad influence on her. The barrel of an assault rifle emerged at the tip of the coffin.

A gargoyle stopped Billy's play with an elbow to the guitar. The instrument slipped out of Billy's hand and crashed into the road, cracks forking across its body on impact. Billy - now a semi-transparent figure - let out a long, loud, "No!" as he dived in to retrieve his instrument.

 _Serves you right, Billy!_ Brandon sprayed the swooping gargoyles with bullets and caused a downpour of silver dust.

Brandon's ears registered a set of steady booms from behind. Just as he turned to see an incoming horde of orgmen, a series of rapid clacks and crashes resounded behind him.

"Yikes, it's him!" Billy shouted. "Dang, my guitar can't shoot bigger lightning bolts until it regenerates some more."

Brandon whirled to find Billy gliding over him. A scorpion with the upper body of a bare-chested man came at them, the two giant pincers from his waist knocking street lamps and signs into the shoddy apartment complexes. The creature stood about four-story tall; the stinger tail hanging above his bald head added about one story to his height. Crystalline plates covered the scorpion-half of the monstrosity.

Hmm, how about a few rockets to that fleshy human-half of his?

"Brandon," Orion's robotic voice came from behind him.

Brandon turned to see Mika facing the orgmen with her pistol ready. His eyebrow quirked, but the confusion subsided when Orion told him, "Let Mika use this horde to practice that poison infusion technique. The better she is at channeling my power into the gun, the stronger the poison will be."

Billy moved towards Mika's left side. "I'll help her."

 _And use the opportunity to convince her not to kill the dragon._ Brandon scowled. He'd deal with that later, though.

 _"Let's go, Brandon!"_ Scutum told him. _"My barrier is ready."_

Returning his focus to the approaching scorpion man, Brandon mentioned _Doom's Rain_ in his heart. The coffin split open in the middle and revealed the six-tubed rocket launcher within. Ten-inch missiles whooshed out of the pods, most of which dodged the thrashing pincers and struck the creature's humanoid torso. The small explosions left only rashes and blisters, so Brandon fired some more until the coffin smoldered and had to revert.

When the blasts settled, Brandon's eye widened. The scorpion man pressed on, the burns on his torso shrinking quickly.

All right, time to summon his dual railguns and charge up! Brandon hopped onto a swiping pincer, drawing his Cerberus handguns as he ran up the armored arm. The scorpion man swung a pincer from his human-half, only to hit a wall of glass that vanished once the claw darted off.

Brandon jumped onto the creature's head and over his incoming tail. _Cerberus Overdose!_ A massive rectangular barrel shot out of the coffin's left and right side; each of them had a slot for a Cerberus handgun near the base.

Landing several feet away from the scorpion man, Brandon whirled and inserted his guns into the slots. The coffin whirred like a jet engine, and the conductive rails sizzled with yellow energy. Each muzzles emitted a spherical glow that grew bigger with each passing second.

The approaching scorpion man sported a wicked grin that somehow roused the hair on the back of Brandon's neck. Brandon held his ground, teeth gritted in determination.

The stinger tail came down, punching through Scutum's wall of glass and digging deep into Brandon's chest. As the tail lifted his skewered body into the air, two humongous energy spheres shot out of the railguns. The explosion blew Brandon and his weapons away.

Brandon crashed into the ground, the right side of his jacket and shirt gone, his pants a tattered pair of shorts. Nothing hurt, but he could barely move his legs - a mess of scorched flesh - now. Blisters littered his torso and right arm, most of which were ruptured and oozing with blood.

Huh? Where was the glossy blue line on his body? Why couldn't he regenerate? _Scutum,_ he called in his mind, _answer me!_

Instead of Scutum's robotic voice, Brandon heard loud scraping noises. The overturned body of the scorpion man rested in the distance; despite missing its humanoid torso and all of its legs and pincers, it rocked left and right like a rocking bed. The cracks on its crystalline plates slowly disappeared.

Heart pounding, Brandon rolled to his stomach and crawled towards his smoldering weapons. They lay a few feet away from him.

The rapid clacks from behind pushed him faster; soon, he noticed the colossal shadow of the scorpion man on the ground. As Brandon reached out his good hand to grab the coffin's chains, a gigantic pincer seized him.

The grip tightened, and Brandon screamed at the rattling of his bones.

"I like how that sounds, Beyond the Grave." Grinning, the scorpion man brought Brandon closer to his face. "Or should I say, the Methuselah's most wanted?"

Brandon struggled against the tightening clutch, but only briefly; breathing lightly and rapidly through his blood-filled mouth did nothing good to his blurring vision and weakening muscles. His broken ribs sliced and stabbed his lungs whenever he tried to breathe.

Tears trickled down his eye. Mika... His poor little child would soon lose her most reliable fighter, her _father_...

Bang!

The grip loosened, and Brandon's limp body hit the asphalt road with a thud. The scorpion man glanced over his shoulder; further behind him, Mika stood with her pistol glowing intensely.

"You sneaky brat!" The monstrosity whirled and scuttled towards Mika, who retreated while firing incandescent needles at him. The projectiles ricocheted off his thrashing pincers.

The sight gave Brandon just enough strength to touch his coffin's chains. _Doom's Rain_ , he called, and the weapon container split open to reveal a six-tubed missile launcher. Rockets flew out of the pods and towards the scorpion man.

Much to Brandon's delight, the burns left by the blasts wouldn't heal this time. Shocked, the scorpion man stopped in his tracks and took a flurry of needles to his torso.

A melancholy tune echoed from above, and Billy shouted, "This is for Glenn!" Cyan roses rained down upon the scorpion man and exploded, sending shockwaves and bolts of lightning rippling in all directions. The creature let out an agonized scream.

When the blast settled and the shriek died out, the monstrosity stood still like a statue. The crystalline plates on the scorpion-half were all gone, exposing the fissures that spread across his charred skin. The creature soon crumbled to dust, and Brandon could feel the tension leaving his muscles.

"Orion's poison worked!" Billy exclaimed. When he dived towards Brandon, his eyes widened. "Grave, y-your wounds... What's wrong with your regeneration?"

"Must have...something to do with..." Brandon coughed up blood. "Scutum's disappearance."

"Brandon!" Mika ran towards him and knelt down. Tears welling in her eyes, she held his broken hand. "Hang in there. I'll find a transport so that we can leave this place and find help." The warmth from Mika's little hands permeated through his skin and soothed him.

He gave her the broadest smile he could muster.

"I could not contact Scutum, Mika," Orion spoke through her left hand. "We should visit Metaslica Faculty of Science. Right now, they are the most knowledgeable about Methuselah folks."

"Metaslica? But I'm just a slum dweller. Everybody there looks down on me."

"Give it a try. I am sure that they will change their mind when they learned that you had just explored the misty region."

"Kill Jyuji." Brandon panted. "His head...will make them bow before you."


	12. Rebels in the Making

Jyuji had seen only darkness since his death two years ago. Now, having become a sapphire dragon courtesy of the mist and a Seed alien named Draco, he could see many things. The sky was gray, the apartment complexes had cracked walls with peeling paints, and thick, fuzzy white tendrils curled around him.

His sight hadn't come without a price, though. Since the transformation, Draco had messed up his sense of smell with the everlasting scent of grilled steak. Also, whenever Jyuji breathed too fast and lightly, the alien would give him a crushing headache and chant, _"The mist is our salvation! Spread it across the world!"_ in his head.

Standing on the rooftop of a thirty-story apartment, Jyuji looked down. Out of the three humanoid figures down there, the sprawled one drew him the most. Jyuji focused on the growing heat around his eyes, and things zoomed in as though he saw them through a magnifying glass. Grave lay still on the cracked asphalt road, gasping for breath as rivulets of blood ran down his body. So much rash. So many ruptured blisters. The charred and mangled legs were icing on the cake.

If Scorpius had followed Jyuji's "Boss' relayed message" earlier, then Grave must have gotten a lot of broken bones.

Jyuji rubbed his palms in excitement; the ability called _Empowering Scar_ would soon activate. Every Seed-infected being would grow stronger if they recovered from their wounds, even more so if the aliens within had entered the dreaded "shock" due to poison or life-threatening injuries from a fight. The very little info he extracted from Draco said that the sudden drastic increase and decrease in the aliens' workload catalyzed the growth.

Jyuji jumped and flapped his leathery wings, his talons ready. In a flash, he swooped down, planted his hind claws into Grave's clavicles and picked him up.

"Get off him!" Mika yelled.

He would, but only when they had arrived at the destination. Jyuji had found a motorbike - with a sidecar and an almost full fuel tank to boot - when Scorpius kept them busy.

As Jyuji rocketed into the sky, something pricked him across his back. The skin around Jyuji's eyes and face swelled. Scales cracked and fell away. As his constricting throat forced him to breathe more lightly and quickly, dull pain built up in his head. It was as though Scorpius had caught his brain in his pincer and was slowly crushing it.

 _"The mist is our salvation!"_ a robotic voice chanted. _"Spread it across the world!"_

Vision blurring and spinning, Jyuji dropped Grave on a nearby rooftop before crash-landing beside wounded undead man. He focused on his breathing as he got up, and his throat relaxed. The pressure in his head gradually faded.

Although Grave could no longer keep his eye open, he could still make a proud smile.

"You want me _dead_ , eh?" Jyuji seized Grave by his neck. "I'm trying to help you guys, you know?"

Grave gargled, blood trickling out of his mouth.

"Jyuji, we come in peace."

Jyuji turned. A teal electric guitar lay a few feet away from him, above which Billy hovered with his hands raised.

"You do, but Grave and that little brat don't!" Hearing an incoming set of quick, steady thuds, Jyuji grabbed Grave's head with his other hand. "Listen up, bro. You and Mika are in no shape to fight me, let alone tackle the misty capital. So-"

The sudden silence cut him off. Then several bangs echoed. Jyuji jumped back, and a hail of incandescent needles hit the empty ground.

Jyuji looked up and saw an airborne Mika holding a luminescent pistol. "Drop your gun, missy." With a snarl, Jyuji clawed into Grave's skull and drew blood. "Or I'm gonna rip the brains outta him."

Mika kept pointing her glowing gun at him while plummeting to the ground. Tears glistened in her eyes.

"I said," Jyuji grumbled, "'Drop your gun, missy.'" Mika stood still with the gun pointed at him and her finger ready to pull the trigger, so Jyuji dug deeper and let blood stream down his hand and Brandon's head.

"Jyuji!" Billy yelled from behind Mika. "Stop it!"

"This is none of your business, specter boy."

"But-"

Mika slammed her gun to the ground. "All right! Now, let him go!"

Grinning, Jyuji loosened his grip on Brandon's head. "Not now. We need to talk first."

Mika clenched her fists and hissed through her gritted teeth.

"Firstly," Jyuji began, "how did you get up here?"

"Wall jumping."

"Impressive, but that's not enough." Jyuji cleared his throat. "You know what? When we met at the heart of the slum, I was just testing your strength." He shrugged. "I thought Grave could do more than blowing off my head, but man, he let me slip away at the end."

"He didn't have enough time to charge his railguns."

"He gotta learn something quick and devastating before taking you to Central Billion. Our HQ is more dangerous than you can ever imagine."

A few seconds passed in silence. The swelling around Jyuji's face and eyelids lessened, and his stabilized vision let him see Mika's death glare _very_ clearly.

"You think I like the Seed in me, missy? Damned alien keeps giving me headaches and harping on about the mist's greatness in my head." Jyuji spat a tiny fireball that left behind a small, smoldering patch of black on the concrete terrain. "I suppose it'll stop bugging me when the mist is gone."

"But you destroyed the windmills. You made the mist spread further."

"It was necessary to win the boss' heart. Now, he trusts me so much that he doesn't know who I'm actually siding with." Jyuji shifted his gaze to Grave and shook him. "Hey, how come your kid is so clueless about the advantage of earning the boss' trust? I thought you must've told her a bit about your past in a mafia organization."

Grave replied with nothing. His eye was shut, his body was limp, and his breathing was fast and shallow.

"Damn, he's already out cold." Jyuji leaped into the air and flapped his wings. Gliding over Mika, he said, "Follow me."

"What the hell are you doing?"

Rapid footsteps echoed behind him, and gunshots roared across the horizon. A flurry of radiant needles whizzed past his neck.

Jyuji glanced over his shoulder. "You idiot! I might just drop Grave and kill him!"

The spherical glow around Mika's gun faded as she jumped from one apartment complex to another. Billy hovered above her.

After a few buildings, Jyuji finally found the one with a big X-shaped scratch mark on the brownish wall. Jyuji knew it might attract some unwanted guests, but South City was a labyrinth with buildings of various height as its wall; without a sign, he couldn't possibly locate the motorbike this fast.

Jyuji dived into the large gap between two apartments and stopped behind the sidecar of a black motorbike. After placing Grave on the passenger carrier, he looked up. Mika was coming down slowly with Billy's guitar held up like an umbrella.

Jyuji inhaled deeply before breathing out a large puff of smoke at her, bringing a loud, angry, "Hey!" out of her.

"Take Grave to Metaslica, you two. We'll talk again next time."

Jyuji bolted into the gray sky and away from the commotion. Much to his delight, no needles ever came at him although he had flown past at least ten - or perhaps twenty - apartments.

The silhouette of a mountain lay in the distance, thick wisps of white spewing out of its peak. It was actually Central Billion, a city, but a lab accident had transformed it into one hell of an anomaly. Sometimes, Jyuji wondered if Grave, Mika, and Billy could handle the sight there; the chorus of sorrowful groans and howls should've told them something before they could reach the "mountain."

Something buzzed behind him.

Jyuji glanced over his shoulder to see a small swarm of light orbs. He dived, but they simply chased him like angry bees. This couldn't be Mika's doing, could it?

Well, he'd know that soon because he'd use this opportunity to test her defense. Jyuji swerved, gliding beneath the little spheres and towards a slender humanoid figure atop an apartment complex. It had a pair of long upright ears.

"Lepus!" Jyuji descended to the rooftop. A whiskered, buck-toothed woman stood before him, her arms folded over her chest. She wore no clothes, but the pattern formed by the dense brown fur on her body looked like a sleeveless jumpsuit.

"I'm not Lepus, just like how you're not Draco." She flicked her fingers, and the orbs vanished. "We breathe the same way."

Jyuji's eyes widened in shock, but he decided to observe the woman's breathing pattern. She inhaled and exhaled rhythmically, exactly fifteen times per minute. Hmm, convincing...

"Wait a minute, rabbit woman! What would you get from going against the mist?"

"A peace of mind, Sir. The mist claimed my son before my very eyes." The woman reached out a furry hand. "My name is Katrina Hopkins. You?"

Jyuji accepted the hand and shook it. "Jyuji Kabane."

"You had my interest when you offered to deal with Grave by yourself." Katrina released Jyuji's scaly hand, smiling a bit. "Since you've been away from the HQ for hours, perhaps you've done something good?"

"I've tricked Scorpius into crushing every single bone in Grave's body. When Grave recovers, he should be able to throw a tank at Corvus."

Katrina's expression darkened. "How could he find help? Have you secured the escape route for him and his helper?"

"They'll only meet some orgmen, gargoyles, and perhaps some silly dragonflies in the way. What could possibly go wrong?"

"With South City - Central Billion - Metaslica Highway blocked by our HQ, Grave and his helper must pass the slum to reach Metaslica," Katrina explained. "Meanwhile, Corvus is about to send a new guardian to the slum."


	13. Hydra

"I'm innocent!"

Hydra had been shouting that - with all of his serpentine heads - since he learned the true nature of Dungeon of Thews. The "dungeon" had started out as a large windowless hall made of tough silver flesh and bulging veins, but as soon as Corvus left, the entrance disappeared. Then the walls and the ceiling closed in until Hydra had to lie down like an obedient dog.

As if boxing someone in wasn't torturous enough, the walls also unleashed a set of silver tendrils to bind Hydra's heads together as though they were a bunch of asparagus. On top of that, the dungeon didn't provide him with mist, the prime nourishment for Methuselah folks.

Well, it used to; the radiant ceiling once had many mist-spewing pores. However, a glorious four-legged, nine-headed dragon like Hydra could never stand imprisonment, so he had taken a few bites out of the walls in a fit of rage. The dungeon didn't like it.

Hydra didn't know how many hours had passed since the pores shut, but everything was fading. He could only feel the rhythmic throbbing of the veins on the walls...

Then he heard a rumbling noise. The pulsation vanished, and Hydra could now stand up and spread his heads. His vision slowly regained colors and stability.

The walls and the ceiling had moved apart and turned the dungeon into a large windowless hall. A circular hole rested on the wall in front of him, growing larger and larger to reveal a dimly-illuminated tunnel. Hydra grinned at the fuzzy white wisps that poured out of it. _Freedom!_

As he scampered towards the exit route, something cawed within the tunnel. "Hydra," a raucous voice spoke, "I made a mistake."

Hydra stopped in his tracks, his center head yelling, "Took you long enough to understand, raven guy!"

A winged man with about the height of an average human stepped out of the opening, his beaked face an impassive mask; Hydra often wondered if birds could have facial expressions at all. Jet black feathers covered the man's body, with a bunch of thicker, longer ones resting around his neck.

"Yes, my apologies. I now understand why you ate a lot of humans during the outbreak on South City. The mist isn't enough to nourish nine heads after all."

"So what, Corvus?" All of Hydra's heads snarled while giving Corvus an eighteen-eyed stare. "Are you inviting me to a feast as a compensation?"

"Sort of. We need a new slum guard."

Hydra slammed his forefeet against the grooved floor, his center head yelling, "That's working, not a feast!"

"Do you know why I choose you to guard the slum? To the west of the slum is the mountainous region of the island, where most slum-dwelling humans have fled to. You're free to eat the refugees, but spare women of childbearing age for Lord Cepheus."

"Why can't I eat them?"

"Because only female humans can bear the children of Lord Cepheus. I hope you don't mind."

"Deal," Hydra's center head replied. Of course he wouldn't mind; snarfing down a woman or two wouldn't make much difference as long as Corvus didn't see it. Out of his diet, he liked young women the most because they had such a tender meat.

Corvus turned around and wagged a clawed hand. "Let's go. We can't leave an area undefended for a long time, especially with Beyond the Grave around."

"Beyond the Grave?" All of Hydra's heads grinned as he wondered how a reanimated corpse - a _criminal_ \- would taste. "Can I eat him?" He followed Corvus into the tunnel. "Can I?"

"Honestly, I'd rather have him as an ally."

Hydra's center head hissed. "What the hell?"

"He's so strong, so _faithful_... We only need to sway his little girl into joining our cause. After that, we'll deal with the heretics in them."

"Seriously, you're thinking of befriending someone who halted the previous Methuselah invasion?" All of Hydra's heads roared. "An enemy will always be an enemy!"

"It's not like I can do it anyway." Corvus shrugged. "Lord Cepheus wants Grave to die for his crime."

"That means I can eat him? What about the girl?"

"Bring him to the HQ first. Once Lord Cepheus has seen his body, you can do whatever you like. As for the girl, just eat her. Our lord can't impregnate a woman with a heretic in her."

All of Hydra's heads licked their lips. "Fine."

The ramified veins on the wall converged towards the end of the tunnel. Sorrowful howls and groans filled the misty air, which made Hydra wonder if he could replace Corvus' place in the future. The noises came from Cepheus' supper, the unfortunate humans who were caught in Cepheus' flesh when he first emerged as a colossal mountain-shaped structure with a grooved surface. As Cepheus' right-hand man, Corvus may dig up some of the trapped humans and either feast on them by himself or share them with his brother.

Outside, though, Hydra couldn't find any trapped humans. His eight helper heads looked everywhere frantically, but they returned with no information. There were only abandoned malls and office buildings around, with mist and silver tendrils creeping around them. Shades of orange, pink and red streaked across the gray sky as the sun lowered beyond the horizon.

"Don't bother trying," Corvus told Hydra. "The humans are nearby, but Lord Cepheus has moved them to somewhere you can't reach."

"Can't I have just one bite before working? The dungeon deprived me of mist for hours!"

"Come on, you can immediately head to the mountains."

With a snort and a nod from the center head, Hydra followed Corvus down the foot of the mountain. Ridges and grooves decorated the solid ground, reminding Hydra of the surface of a brain.

They soon reached the end of the brain-like terrain, ahead of which a wide, seemingly endless asphalt road awaited. All of Hydra's eyes widened at the shoddy tenements that stood around him. Many clotheslines - either full or empty, intact or snapped - crisscrossed the alleys.

"B-but how? The dungeon is the closest to South City, isn't it? I mean, South City has a lot of apartment complexes."

"The dungeon faces the slum now," Corvus said. "Lord Cepheus has relocated it for your convenience."

"Tsk, why can't he let me eat a few trapped humans instead?"

Corvus sighed. "The refugees are yours, my friend, except the women. You only need a little bit of traveling to reach them." He spread his feathered wings and leaped into the air. "I'll be returning to the HQ now."

Hydra ran off without answering Corvus, stretching his extendable helper heads in all directions. Gargoyles and crystalline dragonflies flew everywhere. Orgmen roamed the street like patrolmen.

When he reached a desolate crossroad, just as the four heads on the left told him to turn left, the four heads on the right told him to turn right. Curious, Hydra's center head looked around; to the left were the distant silhouettes of mountains, while to the right was a fleeing black motorcycle with a sidecar.

Hydra's center head licked its lips as it extended towards the vehicle and glided over a trail of silver dust. Then it stopped in its tracks, a "wow" escaping from its mouth. A lean girl drove the motorcycle, her dense silver hair fluttering in the wind. Grave lay still on the sidecar, his muscular torso covered in burns and blood.

The blonde guitarist could just buzz off, though. Only a ghost - an inedible being - could fly and have a semi-transparent body.

Hydra whirled and launched his eight helper heads at the motorcycle. Green fumes poured out of the gaping maws with a loud _pshhh_.

As the girl and the ghost glanced over their shoulders, a fiery drill head tore through Hydra's necks and splattered gore across the street. The eight heads dropped dead.

Hydra looked up with his center head, and his eyes widened. "Draco?"

The sapphire dragon gave him a death glare, a layer of blue flame coating his body. Then he dived, his horns ready to impale.

A rebel.

Hydra roared and slammed his forefeet against the ground. Windows shattered. Cracks forked across the road and the walls of nearby buildings. Hydra's helper heads regrew within a split-second and bolted towards Draco, spewing rolling clouds of green along the way.

Draco spun as he approached the green clouds. His spinning form pierced through them, entered one of the mouths, and drilled its way down the throat. Good thing Hydra could never feel pain; even if he could, he wouldn't give a damn because Draco needed an unforgettable lesson.

As Draco drew closer to Hydra's body, the multi-headed behemoth stretched his center head and focused on the heat around the mouth. The teeth glowed with emerald light, and the head swerved.

Crunch!

Tail caught between Hydra's jaws, Draco screamed and stopped spinning. His flame faded, and his body went limp. Hydra hissed at the sight; he had never thought of eating his own kin, but his stomach was growling and Draco was a rebel.

Hydra tossed Draco's limp body into the air, and the helper heads hissed all the way towards the dragon. Four of them clamped their jaws on each of Draco's limbs, while the remaining three sprayed green fumes at the helpless dragon. The mangled head regenerated and, along with the center head, joined the three gas spewers.

Draco let out an agonized howl, scales cracking and falling off his body. He struggled against the grip, but only briefly as he went into a coughing fit and glowed.

A burst of azure flame blasted the four restraining heads to bits and blew away the five gas-spewing ones. Hydra's eyes widened. Draco's body burned with blue fire again, sapphire scales growing out of his skin.

"Stop it, Hydra!" Draco shouted with a horrified look on his face. "It wasn't me earlier!"

"It was _you_ , rebel."

Hydra's remaining heads lunged at Draco, who circled down the stretched necks while taking in a deep, hearty breath. When Hydra's heads swerved, Draco let loose a large puff of smoke. Shrill roars echoed as the heads thrashed in the hazy blackness.

"We'll talk again after I catch Grave," Draco spoke amid the steady flapping of his wings. "Keep an eye on that rabbit woman, Hydra. She isn't Lepus, just like how I wasn't Draco earlier."

When the smoke cleared, Hydra could no longer see Draco. Damned dragon; what did he mean with that "not Lepus" and "not Draco" thingy? However, Hydra quickly brushed the thoughts aside and turned away. Only two out of his four lost heads grew back, and his stomach rumbled.

Time to visit the mountains and have dinner.


	14. Almost Safe

"Jyuji distracted the hydra for us," Billy said harshly while hovering beside Mika. "Isn't that enough to change your mind?"

Mika looked at Brandon, who lay still on the sidecar with his eye closed and his mouth open. His chest rose and fell quickly. Blood oozed out of the ruptured blisters and the stab wounds on his body.

If she hadn't been driving a motorbike, she'd have reached out a hand to stroke his head and whispered, _"Everything will be okay,"_ to his ears. Luckily, no microorganism on Earth could infect someone with a Methuselah folk in the body.

"The dragon is messing around with us," Orion spoke through her hand. "We must slay him."

"Shut up, pesky alien!" Billy yelled. "Mika, do you still remember the Seed outbreak last year? Who had brought the seriously wounded Brandon to the trailer, so that he could get an immediate care?"

Mika gulped, her eyes growing wet as she returned her focus to the road ahead. _Mr. Jyuji..._

"I know you were mad at Jyuji for further injuring Brandon and holding him hostage, but if he hadn't done so, you wouldn't have wanted to talk peacefully."

"It's not just that, Billy," Mika replied. "I need to impress the faculty's staffers."

"Exploring a misty area and coming out alive are impressive enough. Besides, Brandon's wounds are the proof of your journey. Nothing can injure him so badly. Not even one thousand orgmen."

 _"He has a point, Mika,"_ Orion spoke in her head, _"but I am sure that the faculty will ask you to slay the dragon after taking care of Brandon."_

 _I know._ Mika flashed a small smile at Billy. "You're right. There's no reason to kill Mr. Jyuji."

"Indeed!" Billy gave her a thumbs-up. "He'll also make a great ally as a dragon, you know?"

Mika nodded. Luckily, she could hold back a mischievous grin without a fuss.

 _"Clever,"_ Orion commended in her head.

Years of growing up with Brandon and months of working as a night patrol at the slum had taught Mika one thing: dishonesty could solve a problem that honesty couldn't. Cheating had also helped maintain her grades at school; her mother wouldn't have liked that, but she was gone and Mika now had to work to take care of herself and Brandon.

Darkness befell the slum as the sky blackened. Now, the illumination only came from the full moon above and the motorbike's headlight. Mist crept around the dead street lamps and the shoddy tenements, raising the hair on the back of Mika's neck.

She felt it. Someone was watching them, but she accelerated instead of looking around.

Soon, Mika spotted a street sign that said, _"Metaslica Region, 2 km ahead."_ She let out a sigh of relief, and when she noticed the spherical radiance of yellowish lights among the clumps of mist in the distance, she drove even faster.

"I guess it is our time to part, Mika," Orion began. "Now that you are leaving the misty area, I will have to hide again."

Mika's heart skipped a beat, and she nearly stepped on the brake pedal. "C-can I still use your power if you hide?"

"You can, but everything will be weaker."

Mika's hands went cold in an instant, their grip on the handlebars wavering. Beads of sweat trickled down her temple as she gulped.

"I swear you were braver before I surfaced," Orion scolded. "Mika, I am just like Brandon. I cannot help you all the time with all my strength."

"But-"

"'Protecting Brandon is too much for me?' I am sure that Brandon never thinks like that when he protects you."

Mika winced as if an expanding bullet had just struck her heart. Pain radiated in her chest and brought tears out of her eyes.

"C'mon, it's not like we'll meet Seed monstrosities in the town." Billy twirled his guitar in the air. "Even if there are, I can zap them."

Mika nodded and rammed through the fuzzy clumps. As she emerged on the mist-free area with a squint, the patch of glossy blue on her hand vanished and left behind tan skin; now, the stench of exhaust gas filled her senses. Her heart pounded as she silently prayed for a safe journey to the faculty.

Lit street lamps and abandoned housing estates stood around Mika; in the distance, the colossal silhouettes of tower mills loomed. Orgmen in suits and shades roamed the pavement like street patrols, eyeing her briefly before resuming their duty. Billy saluted the classy ogres as he glided beside Mika's motorbike, which made Mika grin.

"You know something about the Metaslica orgmen?"

"Yep. They're a bunch of nice guys."

Billy smiled, but Mika noticed the drooping of his eyelids. Curious, she asked, "Do these orgmen remind you of something sad?"

Billy looked down with trembling lips. After a moment of silence, he finally replied, "Maybe next time?"

"Okay, Bil-"

Roars and screeches cut her off. Mika slowed down and looked around; the orgmen were running along the pavement, against her direction.

"It's Jyuji!" Billy glided away from the motorbike. "Hey, stop it! Jyuji, what are you doing?"

Mika glanced over her shoulder and gasped. A fiery drill head rocketed through the large swarm of orgmen and towards her, sending silver dust and burned fabric everywhere.

Without a second thought, Mika returned her focus to the road ahead and sped up. Her heart hammered against her chest so hard and wildly that she almost couldn't breathe.

A deafening boom echoed, and a shock wave sent the motorbike flying. Mika slammed into a street sign headfirst and smashed into the ground along with it. Nothing hurt, but Mika could feel something trickling down her temple. It reeked of rusty iron.

Mika got up and scanned the surroundings for Brandon. Upon spotting his sprawled figure on the pavement, she drew her gun and aimed at the incoming dragon. Her hands quivered, but her _father_ would die if she didn't do anything.

"Stop!" Guitar in hand, Billy bolted towards Brandon and the dragon. He hovered between them and spread his arms. "Jyuji, you said-"

The dragon swatted the guitar away. The instrument pulled the ghost along as it whooshed over Mika's head and crashed into a building behind her.

Mika's pistol glowed, and with a loud cry, she pulled the trigger. A flurry of radiant needles tore through the air and entered the dragon's body without leaving a single trace.

The dragon kept going as though nothing had happened.

Mika trembled. The urge to take a leak was strong, but she kept firing until her gun stopped glowing. The dragon didn't even bother to dodge the needles; after taking them all in, he gave Mika a mischievous grin. It pushed her a few steps back and made the gun slip out of her shaky, sweaty hands.

Laughing, the dragon shot up into the sky. Then he dropped down and landed a scaly foot on Brandon's face. Blood burst out of the undead man's ears. Cracks spread across the pavement.

Mika's eyes widened at the sight. _Father... My dear father..._

Something erupted within her. Roaring with her fists clenched, she lunged at the dragon. Both of them crashed to the ground.

"You bastard!" She grabbed one of the dragon's tusks and snapped it off. As she brought it down as an oversized knife, the dragon thrust his claws into Mika's stomach and drew blood.

Mika pressed on anyway, pushing the makeshift dagger into the dragon's eye and through his skull. The beast shrieked and thrashed, and when Mika ripped the tusk out, a scaly palm struck her side. The blow sent Mika rolling across the road, but her grip on the bloodstained tusk remained firm.

The dragon rose to his feet, his eye and tusk regenerating. Mika got up and charged again, only to plant the makeshift knife into the wall.

Something whirred above her. When Mika looked up, her grip on the tusk loosened. The dragon dived in and spun, his body burning with blue flame.

The very thing that sent her motorbike flying was coming at her and Brandon.

Tears rolled down Mika's face. She should've known it; no matter how hard she tried, she would never beat the dragon without Orion's power. The absence of Brandon and Billy only worsened everything.

With the last bit of strength in her, she ran towards Brandon and grabbed both of his charred legs. "I'm sorry, Brandon." She sobbed, dragging him away from the incoming drill head. "I've done my best, but-"

Suddenly, her feet no longer touched the ground. Around her waist was a furry arm. On the other side was Brandon's limp body held in place by another furry arm.

"You did well, girl," a woman praised in a deep voice. "Now, listen to me."

Mika looked up, and her jaw dropped. Whiskers. Prominent incisors. Long, upright ears.

"The name's Katrina Hopkins. Jyuji and I are rebels among the Seven Disciples of the Mist." The rabbit woman hopped from one rooftop to another. "Unfortunately, just as predicted, Hydra's poison messed up Jyuji's breathing rate and caused the folk within him to take control of his body."

Questions arose in Mika's mind. Was Katrina speaking the truth? Why did she help them? What would she get from fighting against the mist? However, Mika's instinct told her to keep quiet and trust the rabbit woman. Perhaps it was because of her mentioning Jyuji's breathing rate; last year, Jyuji had told everybody about how maintaining his respiratory rate under fifteen per minute - the Kutaba Ryu Meditation - would keep the Methuselah folk in him from going wild.

"I doubt I have enough time to bring you to the faculty and negotiate with the staffers," Katrina said. "We must act fast to restore Jyuji."

Mika blinked. "Restore Mr. Jyuji?"

"An aggressive Methuselah folk such as Jyuji's Draco will slowly lose its power in a mist-free area. If we stall the dragon long enough, Jyuji will regain control and side with us."


	15. Enter the Dragon

Mika's jaw dropped at the idea of saving Jyuji. What if the Metaslica people asked her to slay the dragon after they helped Brandon? Jyuji wasn't the one who trampled Brandon's face, and Billy - who had tried to break their fight earlier - would hate her for an eternity if she killed Jyuji.

"You look bothered." Katrina hopped off the rooftop of a shoddy six-story building and into a dark alley. "Is it about saving Jyuji?"

"I'm afraid that the Metaslica people will want Mr. Jyuji's head after helping Brandon."

"Which one sounds better: a dragon slayer or a dragon tamer?" Landing behind a massive garbage bin, Katrina released Mika. "I'm sure that everybody prefers the latter because a dragon makes an excellent ally."

Mika nodded in agreement. _That's it. I'll save Mr. Jyuji._

As Katrina set Brandon down, Mika took a closer look at the undead man and gasped. Blood gushed out of his nostrils and ears. A patch of purplish black skin rested on Brandon's swollen eye. He was also breathing more slowly and weakly now, which brought tears into Mika's eyes.

Mika knelt beside Brandon and placed a hand on his cheek. "Hold on for a little longer, please. We'll bring you to the faculty after this." After a moment of silence, she whispered, "I love you, _father_."

Suddenly, a warm and fuzzy hand tapped her shoulder and prompted her to look up. Katrina stood in front of her with teary eyes, which made Mika mouth a soft, "Huh?" The sad look reminded Mika of her mother's face whenever she got extremely worried about her.

"I heard that, girl. Please step back and allow me to use my healing power on him."

Mika rose to her feet. "You can heal people?"

"Lepus is a creative folk. It can convert my blood into many things."

"Our power comes from our blood?"

The rabbit woman quirked an eyebrow. "The folk in you had never told you about it?"

Mika shook her head.

"I see." Katrina cleared her throat. "We all have what people call 'superpower' thanks to the Methuselah folks' otherworldly knowledge of blood composition and transmutation. However, we have to watch our blood usage or we'll end up killing ourselves."

"But I didn't feel tired or dizzy after using so much superpower in the misty area."

"Of course you wouldn't." Katrina reached out a hand at Brandon. "The mist helps us pay the blood price."

When Mika stepped back, a small orb of white light emerged in front of Katrina's glowing palm. The rabbit woman winced as the radiant sphere grew bigger. Once it reached the size of a tennis ball, it dropped down and entered Brandon's burned torso.

The sudden burst of light from Brandon's body made Mika squint. When the glow died out, she could no longer find the bruise and the swelling around his eye. The burns and the stab wounds hadn't disappeared, but blood had stopped oozing out of them.

His eye fluttered open, and Katrina let out a sigh of relief.

"Brandon?" Mika knelt and placed a hand on his forehead. "You hear me?"

"Mika?" He scanned Mika from head to toe, stopping at her abdomen with a widened eye. Mika knew why he made such a face; dried blood stained the torn fabric and the skin around her stomach.

"Yeah, I got into a fight with the dragon, but I had Orion. It helped me regenerate my wounds."

"No more dragon hunting today." Brandon grimaced. "You aren't...ready yet."

"We won't be slaying the dragon," Katrina declared. "We'll stall the dragon long enough until Jyuji regains control of his body."

Huffing, Brandon stared at the rabbit woman. "Mika needs...the dragon's head to impress...the Metaslica people."

"Everybody favors dragon tamers over dragon slayers."

Brandon growled and glared daggers at Katrina, who simply folded her arms over her chest and looked away.

"She's right, Brandon." Mika stroked Brandon's head. "A dragon can help us a lot."

Brandon frowned at her. Mika knew what it meant; she listened to Katrina - a stranger - but not him, and he didn't like it.

"Anyway, thanks a lot for healing him, Mrs. Katrina." Mika got up. "I'm so happy to see him awake."

Katrina turned to her with a small smile. "I'm glad that my power worked. Actually, I can do better than this, but the risk is very high."

Mika blinked. "Risk?"

"Lepus always tries to botch my attempt to heal or empower other people. The harder I try, the easier it'll be for Lepus to turn the unleashed energy into something harmful." Katrina shrugged. "I guess if I'm a veteran at Kutaba Ryu Meditation, I should be able to use all of my power without a fuss."

"You mean-"

"Lepus can mess up everything if I'm not careful. However, it is especially against helping others with supportive abilities."

"Um, Mrs. Hopkins, since you know Kutaba Ryu Meditation," Mika began, "how long have you known Mr. Jyuji?"

"Just recently, girl. I believe he had finished the meditation course before I joined it." Katrina's facial expression turned into that of a stern teacher all of a sudden. "Spare the chit-chat for later. We have something important to do." She pointed a finger over Mika's head. "Look at that."

Mika turned; with the help from the moonlight, she could see what lay across the alley. A chain-link fence, tall as a three-story building thanks to the razor wire on its top, surrounded a barren field. The colossal windmill within the confined area towered over a large group of orgmen in suit and their gigantic bare-chested leader - a three-headed, six-armed giant.

Brandon had once told Mika about this behemoth. Coming from the fusion of three orgmen, the asura often changed its mind in a fight. According to Brandon, swatting bullets away with his coffin was easier than dodging or parrying an asura's strike.

"The lack of mist is draining Draco's strength and helping Jyuji regain control, so the dragon will try to destroy the windmill as fast as possible," Katrina's deep voice came from behind Mika. "However, let's just wait here and watch. We'll interfere once the asura falls."

"Why?"

"Attacking the asura will leave a bad impression to the Metaslica authorities."

"Speaking of the dragon," Brandon suddenly spoke from below, "he's coming."

Mika turned and looked up. The sapphire dragon - coated in a layer of blue blaze - glided over the multistory buildings around them like a fiery comet.

Approaching the windmill, the dragon descended and spun. The horde of orgmen beneath leaped at the drill head, only to end up as silver dust and tattered rags upon hitting it.

The asura merely stood still with its six arms spread. As the dragon's spinning form whooshed over its head, it whirled and sprang at the beast. At first Mika thought the giant wanted to crush the dragon under its weight, but it seized the dragon by the tail instead. The dragon stopped spinning, his flame fading away.

The asura raised the thrashing dragon overhead and brought him down as a living bludgeon, but it suddenly flung the beast away and ran after the body. As the dragon crashed into the chain-link fence, arcs of electricity crackled across his scaly body and brought an agonized scream out of his maw.

When the electric shock died out, the dragon fell to his knees.

"Never thought that the dragon would have a hard time dealing with the asura." An ethereal green aura engulfed Katrina's body. As she streaked out of the alley like a lightning, a large puff of smoke appeared in the distance and stopped her in her tracks.

Recognizing this smoke trick, Mika looked up. Right, the dragon had shot up into the sky and was now bolting away from the mess; as much as Mika wanted to chase him, she remembered how powerless she was against the beast. "Mrs. Hopkins," she called out, "the dragon is flying away!"

Katrina returned to the alley and wall-jumped all the way up. When she emerged up high in the sky, the color of the ethereal aura became cobalt blue. She curled herself into a ball before rocketing towards the fleeing dragon.

Mika's heart thumped at the sight. What if Katrina missed? What if the dragon successfully returned to the misty area?

The glowing sphere slammed onto the dragon's head and sent him smashing into the main road. Dust and slabs of concrete exploded everywhere.

Mika ran past Brandon to take a closer look at the crash site. When the dust settled, she could see Katrina - now without the blue aura - stand still with her arms folded over her chest. The rabbit woman stared down at the incapacitated dragon, her face stern as a teacher's.

When the dragon opened his eyes and groaned, she nudged the dragon's head with a foot. "Prove to me that you're Jyuji now."

The dragon raised his head and snapped, "Look at how I breathe, rabbit woman!"

Curious, Mika compared Jyuji's breathing with Katrina's. So slow, so rhythmic - the way of the Kutaba Ryu.

"You're Jyuji indeed," Katrina said. "Well, we're heading to the faculty now."

Jyuji rose to his feet. "I'll catch ya later. Gotta find RB first."

"RB?"

"Rocketbilly. Or Billy. Damned Draco made me swat him away into a building."

Suspicion plaguing her face, Katrina rubbed her chin with a finger. "Hmm..."

"Before I became a dragon, I was a blind man. RB helped me see things." Jyuji looked down in sorrow. "If I don't tell him what actually happened, he'll..." He suddenly jumped into the air. "Ah, forget about it."

The dragon flew away, but Katrina only smiled at his distancing figure. "What a softie."

Mika couldn't help but smile tearfully. Good thing Katrina had convinced her not to kill Jyuji.

"With the dragon away, I guess I'll have a longer talk with the staffers in the faculty." Katrina approached Mika, whose face had sagged in concern. "Don't worry. I'll make them an offer they can't refuse."


	16. The Ghost and the Dragon

Jyuji would never damage his guitar so badly; at most, the grumpy undead would just slam it lightly to tell Billy to get serious. Draco must've been hijacking Jyuji.

Moonlight poured through the crevice in the distance and illuminated the dark empty room Billy was in. Levitating a few inches above the cement floor, the semi-transparent ghost pushed the snapped fingerboard against the cracked body of his guitar.

"Please, Blue Lightning," he pleaded, "I must convince Jyuji and Mika to stop fighting before it's too late."

After a few more "please" and "I beg you," the fingerboard finally glued itself to the body of the instrument and adjusted its position to strain the strings. A large fissure marred the site of adherence.

Sometimes Billy wondered what Blue Lightning was made of; hardwood couldn't possibly regenerate, produce lightning bolts, and let his soul bind to it. Then, Blue Lightning could sometimes respond to his pleas - whether the spoken or unspoken ones - as though it had a mind of its own. Too bad Blue Lightning could never speak; else it'd make a good friend, something Billy needed right now.

"Can you regenerate faster?"

The cracks wouldn't disappear.

"Please?"

No response.

With a long face, the sluggish Billy flew towards the opening and out of the building. He wondered what would happen if his guitar broke beyond repair. Would he end up in Heaven, or remain stuck in this world as an ordinary ghost - the kind of ghost that existed so far away from the physical realm that nobody could see it?

_Having new friends is great, but it's hard to say goodbye to my old friends._

Twinkling stars littered the dark blue sky. Billy glided across the rows of abandoned housing estates and along the desolate main street, his eyes scanning for any signs of Jyuji and Mika. The fallen street sign and the overturned motorbike down there seemed familiar.

A large crater lay further ahead, surrounded by partially-collapsed buildings. Patches of dried blood stained the nearby concrete. Spotting a pistol and a tusk beside the crater, Billy closed in. Then he cupped a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening.

The black pistol with a red cross along the rectangular barrel belonged to Mika, while the thick blue tusk belonged to Jyuji.

"No!" he screamed. Whoever had turned him into a ghost was a monster; in this state, he could never cry no matter how much he wanted to. "Jyuji... Mika... Brandon... What happened? Where are you?"

The wind howled, blowing dust against and through Billy's semi-transparent body. He went limp, and his cracked guitar fell to the ground. "I shouldn't have hidden in the building. I should've joined the fray although my guitar was broken and another blow would destroy it." He took a deep breath. "Sometimes, I'm just so selfish."

"Yes, you're more selfish than I can imagine, specter boy. Anyway, everybody is safe and sound."

Recognizing the hoarse voice and the "specter boy" nickname, Billy looked up. Jyuji the sapphire dragon slowly descended with his leathery wings spread, at which Billy smiled.

"Jyuji!" Billy grabbed his guitar and shot up into the air. "You're the good ol' Jyuji I know, right?"

"What if I'm not?" The scowling Jyuji glided past Billy and towards the crater's edge. "Knowing a lot about my personal info, Draco may just impersonate me." Jyuji picked up the gun. "You're too careless for your own good."

"But I don't have the heart to launch some lightning bolts at you, Jyuji. Not even when Draco...uh, hijacked you?"

"So, you know about it."

 _I knew it!_ Billy grinned. "Why don't I? You're my best friend."

"Pfft, you may be clever, but you're soft as hell." Jyuji flew back up. Now hovering face-to-face with Billy, he grumbled, "I don't like having a marshmallow as my best friend."

"Then why are you here?" Billy chuckled. "Can't just be passing by right?"

"Of course I'm just passing by!"

Billy pointed at the gun in Jyuji's hand. "That's Mika's pistol by the way."

"Tsk!" Jyuji growled. "Okay, I'm here for the pistol and nothing else! Grave's little brat needs it!"

"You know, you're actually a nice guy. If you hadn't cared about anyone at all, you wouldn't have said that."

Jyuji snarled, baring his jagged fangs. "You know what annoys me more than a chatty ghost?" He inhaled before yelling, "A sickeningly nice ghost who calls me a nice guy!" Small puffs of smoke burst out of his ears and nostrils.

"Being nice feels good. Also, I'm sure that you prefer a nice person over a jerk."

Jyuji's glowing eyes widened. Then with a sad face, he flew over Billy. "Let's go to Metaslica Faculty of Science now. Others are waiting for us."

Billy nodded and followed Jyuji. Gliding beside him, Billy observed the dragon's face and gasped. For once in his lifetime, Billy finally saw Jyuji tearing up a bit.

"Did I strike a chord, Jyuji?"

Billy expected Jyuji to snap at him, but instead, the dragon replied, "You got me good, RB. That was why I loved my mother more than my father."

Billy stroked his chin and nodded. "Your mother must've been a very kind lady."

"When my father left me and my mother, I didn't cry too much. My father taking away my twin brother wasn't that painful either. But when my mother passed away..." Jyuji paused. "I actually cried for weeks despite being about twenty already. She was so kind that it stung so much when she died."

Billy wanted to ask why Jyuji's father left with his twin brother, but he resisted the curiosity. Poor guy wouldn't like him poking his nose into such a personal matter, especially when he was this sad.

"Now, you understand why I don't wanna be nice to anyone, especially you?"

"You don't want everybody else to be sad when you're gone. But Jyuji, people get sad when they lose somebody dear because they love them."

"True, but you can't cry at all. You'll suffer a lot." Jyuji shrugged. "On top of that, being nice won't always solve everything."

"It's like you're so sure that you'll die soon," Billy grumbled. "Why so pessimistic, bro? You have me. Then as you've said, Mika and Brandon- I mean, Grave are alive. We're all here to protect you."

"Oh? What will you do when Draco overtakes me? Kill it?" Jyuji looked away and spat a tiny fireball. "You can't kill Draco without killing me."

"There's no need to kill Draco. Preventing Draco from hijacking you is good enough."

"Do you know how, smartass?"

"Um..." Billy scratched his head. "Keep you away from the mist?"

"That's not enough."

"C'mon, Jyuji. We'll figure it out someday."

"Someday, eh?" Jyuji scoffed. "Well, how about keeping your mouth shut and fly faster? We gotta reach Metaslica Faculty of Science ASAP."

Billy nodded and silently thanked his creator for keeping his ability to smile broadly. His good ol' Jyuji was back, but nothing delighted him more than learning what Jyuji actually was behind that unpleasant mask: a kind-hearted fellow.


	17. The Dean

David didn't even need to explore South City or send some scouts there to know that Glenn was already dead; a youngster would never last long in the misty area even if he had a Methuselah folk in him. But at least, the lad and his squad of orgmen had stalled the creatures of the mist for a while and let him continue his research: enabling blood regeneration in an undead man. The legendary Beyond the Grave needed it to unleash his full potential.

Unfortunately, this also meant that he had to find another lad. Every orphanage owner would bark at him like a rabid dog after learning about what he wanted, but once he offered them a money-laden envelope, they'd become as sweet as a puppy. To David, spending money would never hurt as much as their treatment of him. Well, which faculty dean - an important figure - would enjoy getting yelled at by some insignificant people?

This time, he'd soon face the same thing Kindred Souls Home. An old couple known as "Father" and "Mother" in the orphanage ran this place; from what he had heard, Father was extremely protective of his children.

Moonlight illuminated the leaf-dappled concrete pathway to the porch of the bungalow. Moths buzzed around the yellowish lamp that hung above a coffee table. Adjusting his tie and collar, David approached the door and pressed the doorbell.

A few seconds later, the mahogany door opened. A thin, slightly hunched woman stood there, a polite smile plastered on her wrinkled face. Her graying hair was tied into a bun.

"How can I help you, Sir?"

"The orphanage's Mother, is it? I'm David Rossi, the dean of Metaslica Faculty of Science. I had called Father earlier."

"Oh." Mother's smile vanished as she motioned him into the building. "Father is waiting for you in the office."

After closing the door, David followed Mother across the living room. Laughter echoed as the children played tag; a few smiled at David, while the rest focused on running around the set of rattan couches and tables.

Such cheerful children would find his "magic tricks" interesting.

The office lay behind the plywood divider, right before the kitchen. David stood still as Mother knocked on the door. "Dear," she called, "Mr. David Rossi is here."

The door opened, revealing a potbellied man - Father. The light from the ceiling lamp glinted off his bald head.

"The dean of Metaslica Faculty of Science, huh?" Father ran a finger through his bushy gray mustache. "I've heard a lot about you."

"The bad stuff, I guess?" David asked.

Father nodded. "Get in. We need to talk." As David entered the office, Father told Mother, "Leave this to me."

"Sure." With that, Mother left.

Once Father closed the door, he turned to David and folded his arms over his chest. "I believe you're here to show off some 'magic tricks' to my kids. Then you'll ask them if they want to be like you, so that you can convert them into one of your soldiers."

"You know a lot. I don't recall telling you about it."

"Other orphanage owners told me that." Father spat at the floor. "But I'm not like them. I won't let you touch my kids no matter what."

"Sir, do you know that whatever lurks in the mist will kill us all if we don't do a thing?"

"Pfft, you're better off recruiting slum dogs for your stupid exploration team."

David knew it; just like other orphanage owners, Father wouldn't understand the country's need. Of course, nobody liked the idea of letting a kid lead a squad of orgmen, but what to do? While slum dwellers needed money, they often conned and even robbed Metaslica people.

They could only be orgmen because the process would wipe out their memories. Also, the faculty had created a Brain Reprogramming Device, a handy tool to input the desired commands into an orgman's brain.

"Why does it have to be youngsters anyway?" Father asked. "They have no experience in fighting monsters."

"Maybe they lack experience, but some have what older fighters lack: courage and sheer determination. I'm looking for a fearless, determined lad right now." David's face remained stern, but he felt a bit ticklish in his heart. _A stupidly brave lad to be exact._

"Sheer determination won't bring miracles!"

 _Indeed, it'll only prolong the life a fearless fool for a little while, but time is all I need._ "How about some extra fund for your orphanage?" David pulled a loaded envelope out of his pants pocket. "You can have it if you let me bring a kid to the faculty. I'll give you more when the kid actually succeeds."

Father picked up the envelope. After scrutinizing it, he threw it at David's face. "I said, 'I won't let you touch my kids no matter what!'"

David's eyes widened as his jaw dropped. Looking down with a frown, he murmured, "You know, other orphanage owners had never treated me like this."

"They're a bunch of cowards!" The man stomped towards David and seized him by his collar. "Being an important person doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want!"

 _Why can't I?_ David glared daggers at Father. Silver scales grew out of the skin around David's hand, and his scaly index finger stretched out at Father. As it coiled around the man's neck, its tip transformed into the head of a snake.

The gargling, trembling Father grabbed the finger, but his feeble grip loosened when the snake ripped his eye out and swallowed it. His hand went to clasp the bleeding socket.

The scowling David focused on the creeping warmth around his fingertip, and his finger reverted into that of a human's. Father collapsed, screaming and writhing in pain as he lay on the ground.

"Cowards actually live longer." David picked up the envelope. "I doubt your kids will want to come with me now, so I'll bring you to the faculty instead. You'll make a fine Metaslica orgman."

Thud!

The door flung open, and Mother rushed into the office. "Oh, my God!" Tears welling in her eyes, she approached the squirming Father and knelt beside him. "What happened?"

"That damned dean..." Father murmured.

"You need a lesson in manners, Sir." David approached Mother and poked her shoulder with the loaded envelope. "Ma'am, you can have this little gift if you keep this a secret and let me take your husband to the faculty."

"No!" Father shouted. "Don't!"

David shot Father a wicked grin. "I'll also spare your kids."

As expected, Father gritted his teeth and teared up at his words. He could insist on telling Mother not to accept David's bribe, which would brand him as a selfish man who didn't really care about his children at all. Or he could keep quiet and bottle up the frustration of unable to stop David from doing whatever he liked.

It was a deserving punishment for a man who showed no respect to an important figure.

Standing up, Mother took the envelope with a shaky hand. "I'm sorry, dear." She sobbed. "It's for our kids."

"A wise decision." David turned around and slammed his fists against each other. Then he pounded the ceramic floor, conjuring a portal of swirling cyan light on the ground in front of him. _Come forth, my naga._

Two scaly silver hands clung to the edge of the ceramic floor, and a brawny being shot out of the vanishing portal. Its serpentine lower-half crashed into the ground, sending dust and shattered tiles everywhere. It flicked its forked tongue as it bowed at its summoner.

David turned and pointed at Father. "Get him into the car."

The snake man hissed and slithered towards Father. After picking up the man, it bolted past the pale, collapsing Mother and out of the room. Shrieks from children of various ages echoed.

David followed the naga out of the house, paying no attention to the bawling and cowering children. Why should he care? This shouldn't have happened if Father had accepted his money.

"You...bastard!" Father croaked. "I hope the authorities will punish you!"

"Do you know why the state of Billion is a unique country?" David chuckled. "It's led by the state's biggest mafia organization instead of a president or a prime minister. You know, said mafia organization sponsors Metaslica University, particularly my faculty because the leader views it as the last hope of Billion."

The crying Father cursed all the way to David's massive car, a silver Toyota Alphard, but the noise became weaker and weaker. By the time David unlocked the doors, Father had become dead silent.

After opening the door, the naga tossed the limp Father into the car and slammed the door shut.

"Thank you." David placed a hand on the snake man's shoulder. "Time to return, my naga."

The creature nodded, hissing as cracks spread across its body. Soon, the snake man disintegrated into a pile of silver dust.

David opened his mouth and inhaled the particles, his brow furrowing a bit at the metallic taste. Unfortunately, not consuming the dust would anger Ophiuchus, the Methuselah folk in him. When it first surfaced, it had told him that any serpentine being he summoned came from his blood; to not waste too much of that important power source, David had to inhale the remnants of the summoned creatures. Ophiuchus would then convert the particles into blood.

When David opened the door of the driver's cockpit, he felt a vibration in his pants pocket. A polyphonic ringtone escaped from it, which ended when David fished his cellphone out of it and pressed the green phone button. The call came from his lab technician.

"Hello?"

"Sir, Beyond the Grave is in the faculty building."

David entered the car and closed the door. "I beg your pardon?"

"Beyond the Grave is in the faculty building."

David gasped. Why did the legendary undead warrior have to come so soon?

"What should we do, Sir? He's badly injured and can't regenerate his wounds. According to his caretaker, a creature of the mist stung him and altered his blood state. It severely weakened the folk in him and disabled most of his powers."

David's hand trembled. Rejecting Grave would only spell death to the undead man, which would lead to the end of the country. The creatures of the mist would destroy the windmills, spread the mist, and kill every single civilian in Billion...or worse.

After taking a deep breath, David finally answered, "Drain his blood and give him a massive transfusion. I'll be there soon."


	18. Father

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've been up-to-date Mist of Doom, you may have noticed that this is chapter 17. Yes, the real update is chapter 16, which serves to close off the Dragon Hunting arc.

Whenever Mika settled a foot on Metaslica Faculty of Science, her heart would thump faster and harder than usual. Why not? In addition to the sparkling marble floor, desks, and pillars, such a lab technician - a Metaslica staffer - just had to exist. The bespectacled fatso in a lab coat hadn't even bothered to introduce himself, let alone smile.

He had spoken to them, but the topic wasn't more than Brandon's condition. After that, the poker-faced fatso had simply walked past the set of escalators across them and towards the room behind the moving staircases. Mika guessed that he had gone to the office to call the dean.

Sitting beside Mika on the steel bench, Katrina sighed. "Such insolence stems from the 'Three M' concept."

"Three M?"

"Money, Man, Mind. Metaslica University is notorious for accepting only rich people who are related to the important figures in the state. They only accept the smart ones, but some say that they accept fools once in a while."

Mika looked down at her lap, her gaze slowly traveling towards the bench beside her. Brandon lay there, his burned chest rising and falling as light snores escaped from his gaping mouth. Her heart thumped as she wondered if the faculty would take care of Brandon. As for entering the university, well, Mika had better forget about it.

She should've listened to Brandon and Orion. Without Jyuji's head in her hands, she felt like a sick, starving beggar asking for sympathy from some snobby moneybags. However, could she really kill him?

"What's wrong, girl?" Katrina asked.

Mika didn't answer.

"As someone from the misty capital, I have a lot of valuable info that can help humanity triumph." Katrina placed a hand on Mika's shoulder. "I won't tell these people anything if they refuse to take care of Brandon."

A thud resounded in the distance, prompting Mika to look up. The bespectacled fatso had finally come out of the room, with two orgmen in suits and shades in tow. The ogres were carrying a stretcher, which made her smile.

As the orgmen moved Brandon to the stretcher, the fatso said, "We'll take him to the underground lab and replace his blood. Hopefully, it'll remove the scorpion's poison from his body and enable his regeneration."

"Thank you."

Mika stood up and followed the orgmen towards the office, only to feel a tight grip at her hand. Pulling her back, the fatso glowered at her. "Only Metaslica staffers may enter the lab."

"Why? I just want to keep him accompanied."

"Rules are rules." The fatso released Mika's hand, at which Mika immediately ran towards the orgmen. "Missy, stop it or I won't take care of him."

Mika stopped in her tracks and turned. Head bowed in defeat, she limped past the fatso and towards the steel bench. A few moments after she sat down beside Katrina, the fatso headed to the office. An unwelcoming bang echoed when he slammed the mahogany door shut.

"Jerk." Mika shifted her gaze to Katrina, who sat still with her arms crossed and an emotionless face. "What's wrong with staying by his side? In my trailer, I've always been watching over him whenever he's badly injured and struggling to recover."

"A lab is filled with precious tools for research. An outsider might break a thing or two by accident."

"But-"

"Quit it, girl. While I don't like the inhospitable nature of this university, at least the lab technician and the dean have agreed to take care of Brandon."

"I thought you said you'd make them an offer they couldn't refuse. Now, you're being so submissive to them."

"Would you risk Brandon's life for such a trivial thing?" Katrina scolded. "We need these people's help, so don't ask too much."

"Tell them about Mr. Jyuji."

"Judging from their treatment of us, I'm sure that they'll call us liars." Katrina shrugged. "I regret having let Jyuji go find his friend."

Looking away with a lump in her throat, Mika growled. Searing pain radiated in her chest as memories of the Fangoram incident fleeting across her mind. During the gunfight against the undead man, a gigantic hollow-point bullet found its way to Brandon's torso. It had torn his lungs and heart apart, knocked him out, and disabled his wound regeneration - a condition known as "shock."

If Mika hadn't stayed by his side, Brandon's regenerative system wouldn't have miraculously gotten over the shock in less than a day.

"I'm curious about your relationship with Brandon. You call him by his name most of the time, but I once heard you call 'Father' instead."

Mika returned her gaze to Katrina. "Brandon and I aren't related by blood, but...I always think of him as my father. He took care of me after my mother died."

"What about your biological father?"

"He..." Tears welled in her eyes. "He was murdered before I was born." And she finally cried. "That's why I work so hard to protect Brandon. If I lose him, it'll be like..." She wailed. "It'll be like losing my parents again!"

Katrina wrapped her furry arms around Mika and pulled her close. "Do your best, girl. Don't end up like me." Mika kept crying into her chest, and she added, "I don't feel like sharing this, but... I was once like you, working so hard to protect my son."

"And then?"

"The mist came and took my son away." Katrina stroked Mika's back. "I'll help you, girl. I doubt I can see another similar incident without getting a flashback."

Mika looked up; much to her surprise, Katrina was also tearing up. "Flash...back?"

"I'll see how my son died again. Trust me, you won't want to experience such a thing."

"I won't!" Face hardened with determination, Mika pulled away and wiped her tears with her sleeve. "I'll do my best to protect Brandon!"

"That's the spirit!" Katrina released Mika from her embrace with a smile. "Now, how about you show me what your folk has taught you?"

"Sure." Mika reached out her left hand and focused on the creeping warmth around it. A small orb of light materialized above her palm, growing bigger with each passing second.

"Some sort of explosive projectile I presume?" Katrina asked.

"Yes. Orion called it 'Light Grenade.'"

"How strong it is?"

"It takes three or four blasts to destroy an orgman."

"Have you thought of using it to daze your foes?"

Mika blinked. "Um, no. I've always used it to finish off my enemies."

"An explosion in front of your face is never pleasant, girl, even if it's weak. It'll obscure your vision for a while," Katrina said. "Next."

Mika glared at the sphere, and it retreated into her palm as a shrinking orb. Soothing warmth surged across her body as she pulled back her arm.

"You reabsorbed the sphere, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Good move. It replenishes some blood, which is why you'll feel energized after it."

Mika nodded and reached out her left hand again; this time, a huge ray of light shot out of her palm.

"What was that for?"

"This is 'Flash.' It can blind my enemies and buy me time."

"You're better off with Light Grenade unless you're very close to your enemy. Next."

Mika balled her left hand into a fist. Heat streamed from her elbow to her fingertips, and a layer of bluish white flame coated her forearm.

"What's this?"

"'Torch.' I usually use it as a source of light in dark places, but Orion can increase the fire temperature to strengthen my punches."

"Hmm..." Katrina rubbed her chin. "Can you use your folk's power with your right hand?"

Mika shook her head as she pulled back her torching left arm. The fire slowly died out.

"Learn it now. There's no telling when creatures of the mist will attack us here."

Mika gulped, a bead of sweat trickling down her temple... No. For Brandon's sake, she _must_ try learning it without Orion's guidance. So she closed her eyes and reached out her right hand.

If focusing on her left arm brought out Orion's power, what would happen if she focused on her right arm?

Mika remained still. For several times the cool wind from the air conditioners made her almost lose control of her body and fall asleep. However, she quickly learned to cling to the thoughts of an injured Brandon.

After some more struggles against the urge to sleep, she finally felt warm around her right hand. She opened her eyes and smiled at the sight. A tiny orb of light, which was about the size of a ping pong ball, hovered above her palm.

"That thing is too small to do any good," Katrina commented. "Try- Hmm, the dean is here."

"Huh?" With the orb fading, Mika looked through the glass doors beside an empty steel bench. Behind them a man in a dark blue suit stood, his slicked back brown hair swaying in the night breeze.

After staring at Mika for a while, he pushed the glass door open and approached her. "Why are you here, slum girl?"

"Do you know her, Mr. David?" Katrina asked from beside Mika.

"I saw her in the security camera this morning." David folded his arms over his chest and gave Mika a condescending look. "This girl showed some characteristics of a slum dweller. She came with an old motorbike and was shooed by the parking attendant."

Mika stood up and snapped, "What's wrong with being a slum dweller?"

"Go home! The glorious Metaslica Faculty of Science isn't a place for you!"

"I'm not leaving!"

"Grave, also known as Brandon, has been taking care of this girl since her mother died," Katrina chimed in. "You can't separate them easily."

David's face contorted in amusement. Soon, he burst out laughing while pointing at Mika. "Why would Grave, a legendary undead fighter, want to live in the slum with you?"

With gritted teeth and a hiss, Mika threw a fist at David's face. Katrina seized Mika's arm, and her knuckles stopped a few inches away from the dean's pointed nose. Mika struggled against the hold, but Katrina's hand wouldn't even budge.

"Mr. David, please consider having her as your ally," Katrina said. "I'll join you as well."

"What's so special about you, rabbit woman?" David asked. "You look like a byproduct of a failed research."

"I come from the depths of the mist, but unlike others, I seek to destroy the mist to avenge my son. I can provide you a lot of information about the mist."

"Hmm." David rubbed his goatee before looking at Mika. "All right. I'll give you a chance to prove your worth, slum girl." He pointed at himself with a thumb. "Fight me. If you can knock me out, you're more than welcome to stay here, but if I knock you out instead, go back to where you belong."

Once Katrina released her arm, Mika slammed her fists against each other and gave David a fierce glare. "Challenge accepted!"

After nodding, David turned to Katrina. "As for you, rabbit woman, don't interfere."

Katrina returned to the bench and sat down. "I won't unless you try to kill her."

"I'd rather let her live, so that she can learn how worthless she is." David stepped away from the scowling Mika.

Mika rushed at David before he could even assume his fighting stance. David gasped, but he quickly reached out his hands. Silver scales grew out of the skin around them, and his fingers stretched out at Mika. When they coiled around Mika's forearms, each of the tips transformed into the head of a snake. They opened their mouths wide, showing off their pointy fangs and forked tongues.

Mika stopped in her tracks and pulled. David fell flat on his face, and his snakes retreated with torn flesh and fabric between their jaws before swallowing them and reverting. With blood streaming down her mangled arms, Mika jumped back and clenched her left fist. Bluish white flame coated her bloody forearm, and she punched down.

David rolled out of harm's way. The flaming knuckles struck the floor, sending broken marble tiles everywhere.

Scales enveloped David's hands as he stood up. When his stretchy fingers came, Mika leaped with her fiery fist ready. She landed on the mesh of tendrils and launched an uppercut, at which David grinned.

Mika's eyes widened when silver scales grew to cover David's jaw and cheeks. Her torching knuckles slammed against the tough skin, cracking it without wiping the smirk off David's face. She punched again and again, with both of her hands, but David simply inhaled. When the scales finally shattered and revealed tan skin, he breathed out a puff of green smoke at Mika's face. She winced at the dung-like odor and thudded into the floor, the fire around her left hand fading.

With his serpentine fingers retracting and facial scales regrowing, David muttered, "Give up, slum girl."

 _Knocked out by some stinky gas? Hell no!_ Mika snarled, got up, and charged again. David's serpentine fingers came and wrapped themselves around Mika's legs, tripping her. As she seized the scaly tendrils, she could feel myriads of needles piercing into her thighs, shins, and feet.

With blurring vision and aching body, Mika roared and yanked the scaly tendrils. David wouldn't fall, so she pulled harder until her hands went limp and slipped down David's outstretched fingers. Damn, the snakes must be _poisonous_.

"Just give up already." Once his fingers reverted into those of a human's, David stepped on Mika's head. "Stubborn little slum girl."

 _But Brandon... My father..._ Tears welling in her eyes, Mika gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "No..." Her knuckles paled as her fingernails dug into her skin and drew blood. "No!" In a flash, she grabbed David's leg and hurled him away. The dean crashed into a marble pillar.

Mika stood up, her vision spinning and her legs trembling. Bluish white flame engulfed her left arm again, and she charged. _I must win...for my father._

When the dean regained his composure, he cupped his hands together and thrust them. A gigantic snake head shot out at Mika.

Mika leaped over the colossal snake, but the creature swerved and wrapped itself around her legs and waist. Gritting her teeth at the tightening clutch, Mika launched her blazing fist at the snake's face.

The beast opened its mouth. Once Mika's fist hovered above the base of its forked tongue, its jaws slammed shut. Then it darted off and swallowed.

Mika screamed as she pulled back what was left of her arm. In no way she could win now, but the image of an injured Brandon flashed across her mind. Roaring like a furious beast, she hammered her fist and the bloody stump of her arm into the snake's head until the serpent vanished into thin air. Her limp body fell and thudded against the ground.

David stood strong in the distance, sneering at her.

"No!" Mika pushed herself up with her good hand and the stump of her other arm, only to fall back soon. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she screamed, "Father!"

And everything went black.


	19. From Grief to Wrath

Katrina's eyes widened at the sudden change of environment. The marble tiles split open, and mist poured out of the fissures. Silver tendrils slithered across the wall, the floor, and the pillars. In just a few seconds, everything was silver and brainlike with pulsating veins. The place now smelled like fresh carrots.

David turned into a cocoon with the face of a crying boy, while Mika transformed into a tearful rabbit woman who knelt before the cocoon. A syringe filled with fluorescent cyan fluid rested in her furry hand.

Crack!

The syringe exploded into plastic shards, spilling the cyan liquid everywhere. "Damn you, Cepheus!" The rabbit woman wailed and banged her fists against the grooved, veiny terrain. "I'll get back at you someday! Nobody can take away my son and get away with it!"

Katrina clutched her head and winced, cold sweat dribbling down her temple, hot tears stinging her eyes. Had she known about David's combat prowess, she would've taken Mika away and thus, that scene wouldn't have replayed in her mind.

But what had made the dean so proficient with his snake powers? None of Katrina's "comrades" had ever reported about his presence in the misty area.

"You resisted my poison quite well and beat my giant snake, but those weren't impressive enough." David's voice echoed from the distance, and the environment reverted. Metallic stench replaced the fragrance of carrots. "I didn't even have to resort to my naga to knock you out. Speaking of naga..." He slammed his fists against each other and pounded the bloodstained marble floor.

A portal of swirling cyan light appeared on the ground in front of him, at which Katrina wiped off her tears and stood up. _What now?_

A pair of scaly silver hands clung to the edge of the marble floor, and a brawny being shot out of the vanishing portal. Its serpentine lower-half crashed into the ground, sending dust and shattered tiles everywhere. It flicked its forked tongue as it bowed at David.

"Take this slum girl out of the university."

"Hold it!" With green ethereal aura coating her body, Katrina bolted towards the advancing naga like a lightning. Her knuckles slammed into the serpent's side, and the creature burst into silver dust.

David inhaled the particles through his mouth, his eyes widening. "The...hell?"

Katrina's aura faded, and she pointed at Mika. The girl lay still, blood gushing out of the stump of her left arm and the bite wounds along her limbs. "Letting a girl to live in such a state..." Katrina mumbled. "That's so low for an important figure like you."

"If she has a high-quality folk in her, the bleeding won't be a big deal."

"The lost arm is a thing, you despicable man." Katrina crouched and ripped off Mika's tattered sleeve. After wrapping it tightly around the bleeding stump of Mika's left arm, she picked up the girl and walked towards the building's exit. "I'll take care of her."

"Why would you do that? You're someone from the depths of the mist." David paused. "You destroyed my naga in one blow, too. You should leave this slum girl alone and join my cause."

Katrina glanced over her shoulder. "I'll join you if you let her come along. I'll also teach her how to use her power well. Deal?"

"I don't need a slum girl around."

"You'll need her. She's Grave's sole reason to live and fight for humanity."

Scrunching his brow, David raised his voice. "Nonsense!"

"So, you're willing to take the risk? Grave won't be pleased when he learns what is actually happening."

David spoke even louder, "A magnificent being like Grave will never associate himself with a slum girl!"

"Have you ever wondered how the injured Grave ended up here? He couldn't possibly walk with both of his legs badly burned."

"Shut up and leave now, rabbit woman!"

"Farewell then." After walking out of the building, Katrina dashed across the desolate parking lot and hopped onto a lit street lamp. "Idiot."

Every folk-infected human had an ability known as Empowering Scar. After studying the nature of the hosts' wounds, the aliens within would base the replacement cells and tissues on the analysis. So the next time Mika fought David - if that would ever happen - the dean would have a harder time knocking her out.

_And then, there is Brandon..._

Katrina held back a smile when she imagined what would happen when Brandon woke up. David had better be very careful of Empowering Scar, or his poor snakes would break their fangs upon biting Brandon.

However, Mika shouldn't know about Empowering Scar; hell, she shouldn't even know that her lost arm could regrow if given enough time. Such good news would make her lazy, and a weak Mika would only be a dead weight in her growing team of anti-Cepheus people.

Katrina jumped from a street lamp to another street lamp, then to the rooftop of a two-story townhouse. Noticing the bright lights and the whirring of the aircon condenser by the window, Katrina hopped onto the neighboring building. It was another occupied house, so Katrina moved again. When she reached the end of the block without any result, she leaped onto the block across from her.

The stars had vanished. The wind blew harder as she went further, and she began detecting earthy scent. Blinding jags of white streaked across the dark red sky from time to time.

A few blocks later, Katrina finally landed on the rooftop of an abandoned townhouse. As they sky rumbled and flickered again, she rushed to the nearby shed. Her kick turned the wooden door into a doormat, and she stepped into the darkness.

Katrina set Mika down and brought her hands together. A swarm of tiny light orbs emerged between her palms before flying to the ceiling like fireflies. Guided by the illumination, Katrina studied Mika's face. Tears. They reminded Katrina of the moment she found her poor son.

The rabbit woman reached out a hand at Mika. When a small orb of white light emerged in front of Katrina's glowing palm, her head throbbed. At first the pain resided only around the back of her skull, but as the sphere grew bigger and brighter, the sensation spread across her face.

Whenever Katrina used her healing power, she had always gauged the risk through the pain. So far, casting the orb when the throbbing pain reached her chin had never resulted in any harm.

The sphere of light made its way towards Mika. Once it sank into Mika's chest, the girl's body shone. The glow soon died out, and only scars and dried blood remained along Mika's limbs. Her left arm was still a bandaged stub, though.

"Wake up," Katrina called. "We need to talk."

Mika's brow furrowed as she balled her hand into a fist and rolled to her side. Growling and opening her eyes, she slowly pushed herself up with her knuckles.

"The fight is over."

"It's not!" Mika teetered a bit before finally standing upright. "I can still fight! Take me back to the dean!"

"I said, 'The fight is over.'" Katrina folded her arms over her chest. "You lost."

"It's not over!" Mika turned away and stormed out of the shed. Katrina ran after her, and within a split-second, she wrapped her arms around the girl. Mika pressed on and pulled Katrina along, prompting the rabbit woman to summon her blue ethereal aura. Now, Katrina wouldn't even budge.

"Quit it."

Mika bit down on Katrina's forearm, and a crack echoed. Tiny fragments of white and red fell to the ground. Blood stained the brown fur around Katrina's arm.

"Forget about the fight and think. How strong are you?"

Mika began to sob as she looked at the broken teeth beneath her. "I'm strong... I killed many orgmen, gargoyles, and dragonflies."

"Killing those little guys isn't worth bragging about." With her blue aura fading, Katrina gave Mika a stern glare. "Answer this. Did you kill Volans the Flying Fish? Or perhaps Scorpius the Scorpion? Mind you, those two are the weakest among us. If David fights to his fullest, he can actually defeat them."

Mika didn't reply, but her body going limp and cold was all Katrina needed to know the answer. She released the girl and let her fall. Now sitting still, Mika looked at the bloody fabric around the stump of her left arm.

"I..." She held the remainder of her left arm. A few moments later, she finally bawled like a little kid.

"Both of us are walking the same path now." Katrina crossed her arms again. "We've lost what we cherish the most in our life. But unlike me, you can still retrieve your treasure. You're quite lucky."

Mika kept crying. Maybe she needed some time alone, so Katrina remained still.

However, after waiting for God-knows-how-long, she hissed at the neverending noise and seized the girl by the collar. Pressing her forehead against Mika's, she snapped, "Stop it now! Crying won't get Brandon out of the university!"

"I couldn't even fight well when I still had both of my arms." Tears rolled down Mika's reddened cheeks. "Now I only have one arm left. I still-"

"'Haven't learned how to use my power with my remaining arm?' Then learn!" Katrina shook Mika. "Do you want your treasure to remain in David's hands? I doubt David will treat Brandon well, especially when he learns that Brandon loves you above all else."

"No!" Roaring, Mika headbutted Katrina so hard that the rabbit woman jerked away and released her. "I'll train hard to become stronger!" She stood still and clenched her fist until her knuckles paled. "I'll show the dean that I'm stronger than him! Nobody can take my father away and get away with it!"

Katrina's eyes widened, but soon, a small smile crept into her lips. This was exactly what she wanted from Mika: realizing her weakness and transforming her grief into wrath.

 _Sorrow-induced anger is the best kind of motivation one could have_ , she thought. _I wouldn't have lived this long if not for my son._

Placing a hand on Mika's shoulder, Katrina said, "Then start practicing now. I'll help you the best I could."


	20. Under the Hare's Guidance

The dark red sky flickered and rumbled. The earthy scent grew stronger with each passing second. When a few water droplets struck Mika's head, she ran into the doorless shed with Katrina in tow.

Countless drops of water pelted the ground and the roof. The strong wind blew some droplets into the shed, at which Mika retreated to the dark corner. She wished Katrina hadn't kicked the door down, but if the rabbit woman hadn't, they couldn't have entered the shed.

Mika sat down cross-legged and stared at the bloodstained cloth around the stump of her left arm. Damn, she could swear that the missing fingers had somehow curled themselves to form a fist. Also, imaginary ants had been crawling along the lost forearm.

 _Phantom sensation_ , Mika recalled. Brandon had once told her about his missing left eye. When he had just woken up from his death, in which a bullet ripped into his eyeball and through his skull, his lost eye kept projecting the images of his murder. Invisible ants would also crawl around the socket from time to time, and he could sometimes feel like opening and closing his eye. However, once Brandon shot his murderer dead, he no longer experienced any of the phantom sensation.

Closing her eyes, Mika focused on her right hand. Her body reeked of dried blood and sweat, and the booming thunders assaulted her eardrums, but she tried even harder to concentrate. _I can't save Brandon if I don't push myself harder._

Gentle heat crept around her fingers and palm. Mika opened her eyes and glanced at her hand, above which a small orb of light floated. Then it vanished into thin air, at which Mika gasped.

"You didn't focus long enough," Katrina's voice came from behind her. "Next time, don't let a small success distract you."

Mika nodded and closed her eyes again. She let the heat grow, but her palm soon burned as though she had a sizzling piece of steak in her hand. Beads of sweat trickled down her face as she furrowed her brow and continued to focus.

Pshhh...

Mika opened her eyes at the noise, and her jaw dropped. Threads of smoke retreated into her hand as the radiant sphere - which was about the size of a basketball - above her palm shrank into nothingness. The searing heat around her hand disappeared as well. What had gone wrong?

"You spent too much time focusing," Katrina commented. "We're lucky that it didn't grow bigger and explode. Seems like Orion still has some degree of control over your power despite the lack of mist."

Mika glanced over her shoulder. "How do you know?"

"Our power is quite similar, and I have blasted myself several times when I was new to Lepus' power." Katrina's hand glowed. A few moments later, a pulsating orb of light hovered above her palm. "Unlike Orion, Lepus always tries to sabotage whatever I'm trying to do instead of protecting me. Luckily, months of training have helped alleviate the issue. Lepus can only mess up my healing power right now."

Mika smiled, but not as broadly as one would have expected. Katrina could teach her a lot, but what about the pain the rabbit woman had gone through as she trained? She couldn't possibly have a mentor; hell, did Lepus guide her at all, like how Orion guided Mika when she first learned about its existence and power?

"Try again, girl. You should throw the orb once the heat starts searing your hand." The glowing sphere shrank and retreated into Katrina's furry palm. "Once you've conjured the perfect sphere, throw it at me."

Mika's eyes widened. "But I'll hurt you."

"Judging from your current mastery of your power, I doubt you can hurt me. Moreover, I need to gauge your strength."

"I can try blasting the wall instead."

Katrina pointed at the doorless entrance of the shed, from which flurries of water darts poured in. "You won't want another hole in the wall right now."

Mika gulped before returning her focus to her hand and closing her eyes again. Gentle heat crept around her fingers and palm; once it began searing her hand, her eyes snapped open. She tossed the basketball-sized sphere of light over her shoulder.

Out of curiosity, she looked back. Katrina swiped the sphere out of the shed, and the orb disappeared in the abating rain without exploding.

"You did better than I thought."

When Mika noticed smoke, singed fur, and burned flesh around Katrina's forearm, she stood up and approached the rabbit woman with a wince. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Katrina."

"You shouldn't worry about me." Within a split-second, new flesh and fur grew to cover the wound. "Folk-infected people regenerate very well."

Mika looked at the torn, bloodstained fabric around her stomach. "I remember regenerating some stab wounds, but..." She shifted her gaze to the remainder of her left arm. "Can I regenerate my lost arm?"

It took Katrina a few seconds to finally say, "Yes, but it will take a long time and an intense training due to the type of folk you have." She folded her arms over her chest. "The hosts who have become less human in appearance, such as Jyuji and I, can even regenerate lost heads. However, there are also folks that come with excellent regenerative capabilities. Those who are infected with these gifted folks, such as Brandon, can regenerate everything easily except a lost head. You have neither qualities, unfortunately."

"Uh, how did you know that Brandon could regenerate well? You found him after Scorpius' poison weakened his folk and stopped his regeneration."

"Brandon, or better known as Beyond the Grave, is a legend in the state. Pretty much everybody knows what he is capable of." Katrina sighed. "Oddly enough, you aren't as famous despite your relationship with him. You know, some reputation can help you get past David."

For a moment, images of Mika speaking to a two-way radio flashed across her mind. Mika frowned; she should've joined Brandon in his adventures and fights instead of monitoring him from the trailer. "It was my fault anyway. Everybody had been calling Brandon as my attack dog once they got to know me."

"Attack dog? You let Brandon deal with the state's rabble-rousers by himself while you sit back in your hideout?"

Gaze dropping to the floor, Mika nodded. "I really regret it." Tears welled in her eyes as a lump formed in her throat. "I did try to be more outgoing after hearing a lot of 'attack dog' remarks, but it was too late."

There was only the steady drumming of water droplets against the tin roof and the concrete ground afterwards. Then Mika felt warm on her head. She looked up to see a furry hand atop of her head and a smiling Katrina. For some reason, her face reminded Mika of Brandon whenever the undead man wanted to give her words of wisdom.

"Better late than never. Now, practice conjuring the sphere again and again. Try reabsorbing it by yourself." Katrina pulled away. "Once you're capable of casting it quickly, I'll teach you a few of my powers."

Mika blinked. "You mean, I can learn to cast auras like you?"

Katrina shook her head. "From what I've seen, Orion seems to specialize in energy-based attacks. Casting an aura is a different type of power."

"What are the auras actually for?"

Katrina remained still as blue ethereal aura coated her body. " _Focus Power_ toughens up my muscles. This is best combined with blunt blows, particularly the rolling attack I performed on the dragon earlier. Let's just say that I was like a wrecking ball." The aura became green. " _Focus Speed_ lets me move very fast. My punches and kicks will be like bullets from a machine gun." The aura faded. "Well, start practicing now."

Mika nodded and returned to the dark corner of the shed. Once she sat down, her lost hand clenched itself again. She simply closed her eyes and focused on her right hand, though.

The phantom sensation vanished, and she could now feel the creeping warmth around her sound fingers and palm. It quickly heated up and threatened to burn her hand.

Mika's eyes snapped open, and she glared at the pulsing orb of light above her palm while focusing on the dying heat around her hand. Soon, threads of smoke poured down the shrinking sphere and into her palm.

Mika repeated the exercise, but this time, she kept staring at her glowing hand. A radiant sphere appeared above her palm and bloated. Then it shrank as it returned into her hand as wisps of bluish white smoke.

The more she tried, the less time she needed to create and reabsorb the luminous sphere. She grinned at the progress, knowing that she would be able to use Orion's other powers soon. Also, she wondered what kind of powers Katrina would teach her.

After conjuring and reabsorbing a few more orbs, she heard Katrina say, "All right, that's good enough."

With a broad smile, Mika stood up and turned to Katrina. The rabbit woman smiled back at her.

Time to learn something new.


	21. No Pain No Gain

"I'll teach you a simple one first." Katrina's hand glowed, and a basketball-sized radiant sphere materialized above her palm. She tossed it at Mika, whose eyes widened.

"Wha-"

Katrina pulled back her extended arm. The orb swerved away from Mika and returned to Katrina's palm as threads of smoke.

"If you can control where your sphere goes, you can hit your target more easily. It also helps you avoid friendly fire."

Mika nodded, her face dull. A maneuverable explosive orb? Couldn't it be something cooler and stronger?

"Nobody learns something advanced without mastering the basics beforehand," Katrina reminded.

Mika gasped. Not even Brandon could read her that accurately!

"You have to know that I'm a mother to a nineteen-year-old boy. My son joined Kutaba Ryu Meditation Course, but he kept complaining about how dull it was to learn the basic breathing techniques."

"And then?"

"He wanted to quit, but I told him that it'd be his loss." Katrina shrugged. "Then I explained how the meditation could calm one's mind and help improve one's memory, which would be useful for a student like him. He eventually changed his mind."

Mika's jaw dropped. "Wow. If he has gotten a folk when the mist outbreak happened-" Seeing tears in Katrina's eyes cut her off.

"Then he'd have been here, practicing his powers and sparring with you." She wiped off the tears from her eyes. "Now, conjure a sphere."

Smiling a bit, Mika nodded. Katrina reminded her of Brandon whenever he decided to open up a bit about his relationship with her mother. He had always redirected Mika into something else before she could question him further.

"Focus!" Katrina scolded.

"Oops!" Mika reached out her hand and concentrated. A pulsating orb of light materialized above her palm, growing bigger with each passing second.

Once it reached the size of a basketball, Katrina told her, "Look at the sphere and form a connection with it."

Mika complied. Soon, it felt as though the sphere formed an invisible rope that bound itself with her brain. Her head throbbed and tears welled in her eyes, threatening to make her blink, but she pressed on. _I'm not that weak._

"Feel something in your head?"

Mika nodded.

"Now, your sphere's direction depends on where you're looking at. You look up, it goes up. You look down, it goes down. Try moving it up and down slowly."

Mika nodded again and looked up. The sphere rocketed to the ceiling.

"I said slow-"

Boom!

Debris and droplets of water rained down into the shed, at which they jumped away. A gaping hole rested on the ceiling, its edge charred and smoking.

"Try again," Katrina spoke, stern as a math teacher. "Remember, _slowly_."

"Okay." After performing the sphere conjuring and bonding steps again, Mika slowly looked up and guided the sphere to the ceiling. Her eyes didn't hurt, but the excessive tears blurred her vision and began rolling down her cheeks.

She blinked.

The sphere plummeted. Mika scrutinized the orb, hoping to bond with it again, but it returned to her hand as wisps of smoke.

"Thank Orion for reabsorbing it before it could blast your feet."

Mika wiped the tears off her eyes and cheeks. "Mrs. Katrina, how can I stop my eyes from watering?"

"You're still a rookie, girl. If you keep trying, your eyes will get used to it."

"Um..." Mika turned away. Just as she thought of abandoning this new power, her mind went back to when she was still a skinny wimp. Pull-ups hurt her hand, and she had fallen off several times and even thought of giving up. However, Brandon - just like how Katrina convinced her son to continue the meditation course - urged her to keep going.

She looked at her remaining arm and smiled. Her biceps would never be as big as Brandon's, but it was enough to make some slum thugs reconsider picking on her.

"You're not giving up so soon, are you?" Katrina asked from behind her.

"I'm not." Mika reached out her hand and spawned a sphere. After staring at it and feeling the binding sensation in her head, she looked up very slowly. Tears welled in her eyes again, but not enough to even pose a threat. The orb drew closer and closer to the ceiling.

"Bring it down to eye level. Then turn to the shed's entrance and hit the sphere to throw it out."

"Hit it?"

"It won't blast you. You're connected to it."

Mika looked down. Once the orb hovered before her tear-filled eyes, she swatted it away. It slammed into the wall beside the doorframe and exploded. Luckily, no water droplets poured in via the new hole thanks to the calming rain.

"Your aim needs more work," Katrina commented. "Keep in mind that hitting the sphere hard will speed it up, strengthen its impact, and increase its travel distance, but you may lose your connection to it. If you aren't so sure about your aim, you can just hit your sphere lightly to retain your control."

Mika turned to Katrina. "Can I recall the sphere if I launch it too far?"

Katrina nodded. "Simply pull back your hand."

"I see." Mika stroked her chin. "Oh, I get it. If I want to move it left, right, up, or down, I'll have to use my eyes. If I want to launch or recall it, I'll have to use my hand."

"You're sharp. Well, I have a challenge." Katrina walked towards the entrance of the shed and stood still. "Try directing a sphere out of this shed without hitting me." She pointed at the opening on the ceiling and the wall. "No cheating with those holes."

"I'm ready." Mika conjured a luminescent orb and stared at it. Once the sphere had cast an invisible rope to bind itself with her brain, she looked up slowly. Then she hit it like a volleyball player performing a serve.

When the sphere drew closer to Katrina's face, Mika looked up again. The sphere went up while moving ahead, grazing Katrina's long ears before exiting the shed and disappearing in the dying drizzle. The binding rope released Mika's brain.

Looking at the patch of singed fur and burned flesh at the tip of Katrina's ears, Mika frowned. "I failed the challenge."

"Your problem was in the timing." New flesh and fur grew to cover Katrina's wounds. "You should've looked up sooner."

"Um, if you don't mind, can I try again?"

"Sure."

Just as Mika reached out her hand, Katrina whirled. Since the rabbit woman blocked the view from the shed's doorless entrance, Mika shifted her gaze to the big hole beside the doorframe. A man in red hovered towards the shed, his blond lightning-shaped pompadour standing firm despite the night breeze. He had a teal electric guitar in his hands.

"Billy!" Smiling broadly, she rushed towards the cavity. "You're okay!"

"I knew those explosions would lead us to you." Billy twirled his guitar in the air as he approached Mika. "By the way, my guitar is now back in shape." After scanning Mika from head to toe, he gasped. "Your left arm! It's missing!"

Mika's smile remained, although it wasn't that broad anymore. "Mrs. Katrina told me that it can grow back someday if I keep training hard." She conjured a radiant orb and held it in front of Billy's shocked face. "I've learned to use Orion's power with my other arm, too." Then the sphere retreated into her palm as threads of smoke.

"Billy..." Katrina spoke from behind Mika. "I've heard of that name from Jyuji."

Billy grinned. "Yeah. I bet my buddy must've told you the good things about me."

"Never!"

Behind Billy, Jyuji walked towards them with a bulky plastic bag in each of his hands. Mika grinned at the sight; it reminded her of her mother when she had just done shopping.

Katrina stroked her chin. "Hmm, I wonder how a dragon can shop so much, especially in an elite region such as Metaslica."

Jyuji glowered at Billy. "This specter boy pulled a prank in a bakery. He poked his head out of the floor and scared all the workers there. Then he made a promise to not bother them again in exchange for some offerings."

Billy snickered. "Well, you wanted to get some food for your friends without drawing unwanted attention, so I just did what I could to help you."

"The hell? I want all the bread for myself!"

Mika chuckled. "But Mr. Jyuji, you're an undead like Brandon. Undead can't eat."

Jyuji flung the bags, which went through Billy's body and landed before Mika's feet. "Enjoy your dinner, missy. Next time, you gotta gather food by yourself."

"Funny how undead creatures are a trend in the state, yet many citizens are afraid of ghosts." Billy put his guitar down and glided through the wall. "I guess this is the reason why. You can whack, shoot, or burn an undead man to death, but none of those methods works against a ghost."

"Oh?" Smoke gushing out of his nostrils, Jyuji pointed at Billy's guitar. "Can I try burning this? I heard it's very effective against you, specter boy."

"You won't dare, buddy."

Mika laughed softly at the two. She wouldn't want to imagine what would become of Billy if she had insisted on slaying the dragon... Well, could she defeat Jyuji anyway? She couldn't even beat David, who seemed to be much weaker than Jyuji.

"Go have your dinner." Katrina placed a furry hand on Mika's shoulder, prompting her to turn. "It'll replenish your blood supply."

"Then we'll continue training?"

Katrina nodded. "Go now."

Mika grabbed the bags and retreated to the corner, feeling a little heavier on one side. Sitting down, she opened the heavier bag and looked into the contents. A pistol with a red cross on its barrel rested atop a few big bottles of water.

Her Puppy Fang had returned. Picking it up and glancing over her shoulder, she shouted, "Thanks for getting my gun back, Mr. Jyuji!"

Jyuji snorted. "I get it! Now, eat!"

Mika chuckled. After holstering her pistol, she reached out for the other bag and looked into it. The sausage buns, garlic toasts, cheese croissants, and ham sandwiches within pushed saliva out of her mouth.

What the hell? Even though she hadn't eaten anything for twelve hours, she'd never be this sloppy.

_Orion, you're messing around with my salivary glands, aren't you?  
_

Orion didn't answer, but Mika would take it as a "yes," especially when her hand moved by itself to snatch a sausage bun. One bite tore off half of the bread, and she had only chewed it for a second or two when Orion made her swallow the food. For some reason, the crude mass went down her throat without a fuss.

It took only a few minutes to empty the bags and the bottles of water. A typical human would feel stuffed after devouring so many buns in a short time, but Mika felt energy surging across her body instead. She hopped to her feet and dashed towards Katrina, eager to resume her training. The rabbit woman was speaking to Jyuji, but she quickly turned when Mika drew closer to her.

"You look brighter after eating," Katrina commented, "but we'll delay the training. Jyuji has a plan."

Mika blinked. "Plan?"

"The mist incident began three months ago. I doubt David injected himself with a folk as soon as the outbreak happened, because it usually takes at least a month to domesticate an aggressive folk. That leaves David with at most two months to practice his folk's power," Katrina explained. "David didn't have a head start like me, but he could wield his powers masterfully like the elites in the mist alliance. On top of that, I've never heard about David's presence in the misty region."

"You mean, it's like he has trained for more than two months?"

"Yeah, he gotta have some kind of training chamber that goes outside the natural flow of time," Jyuji replied. "We need to make him talk."

"Is it actually possible to have such a thing?" Mika asked.

"What's impossible when there are Methuselah folks involved?"

"That being said, it wouldn't hurt to travel to the east to seek assistance from Gatou Gang," Katrina added. "Right now, it is the biggest mafia organization in the state."

Mika's expression darkened. Last year, they had visited the organization. Their leader, Richard Wong, had agreed to help them in their journey, but only because they shared the same goal: stopping the Methuselah's invasion. Wong's motive of fighting the aliens was none other than saving his drug empire.

After a few seconds of silence, she murmured, "You think they'll help us?"

"You think the mist is good for Mr. Wong's drug business? Fewer humans, fewer clients, ain't it?" Jyuji replied. "Also, we stopped the Methuselah invasion for them and left a good impression. If the university really hides something as grand as a time-bending stuff, Mr. Wong will definitely persuade David into granting us access to it. It's the key to make us grow stronger and stop the mist."

Mika frowned. "But what about Brandon? We can't just leave him alone."

"When he learns what David has done to you, he'll go nuts and break free from David's grasp with ease. After that, this specter boy will lead him to us."


	22. The Breakout

Soothing coolness coursed through Brandon's body. His eye fluttered open, and he saw a lot of white. A mahogany desk rested beside his bed, atop which a stack of books lay. Four IV stands stood around him, a half-full blood bag hung on top each of them. The crimson fluid traveled into him through the IV lines that were connected to each of his limbs.

Brandon recalled what his creator had told him. Unlike humans, he could receive four bags of blood at once without suffering fever or other side effects of transfusion; hell, he only needed at most thirty minutes to take in all the fluid. He and blood were like a car and gasoline, but unlike a car, lack of blood would spell doom for him.

Brandon slowly sat up and stretched, bringing with it a series of cracks. Then he scanned his body down to the toes. Hmm, he was just wearing boxer shorts right now? Oh, well, at least the lack of proper clothing let him see everything clearly. All the burns on his legs and torso had disappeared, as if the explosion had never hurt him.

_Scutum, you're back in shape, aren't you?_

No answer. Ah, not that his life depended on Scutum's barriers anyway.

"You're finally awake? It's 3AM right now."

Brandon turned. A chubby bespectacled man in a lab coat walked towards him with a smile. A desk full of test tubes, microscopes, and petri dishes lay behind him.

 _Where's Mika?_ Brandon looked around frantically, only to find folded wheelchairs and unoccupied beds across the spacious rectangular room. _She never leaves me alone whenever I'm injured._

"Something's missing?" the man asked.

"Did you see a silver-haired girl around?"

"A silver-haired girl?" He stroked his bearded chin. "Oh, I know her. She's still waiting in the lobby."

Brandon smiled. "Can you call her? She must be worried about me."

"Sorry, but the lab is off-limits. We're afraid that outsiders may break our tools by accident."

"She has been living with me for years. I can guarantee that she won't break anything."

Smile fading from his face, the chubby man replied, "But rules are rules, Mr. Grave. No outsiders are allowed in the lab."

"Can you at least take me to the lobby? I want to let her know that I'm fine."

"I can relay your message."

Why the hell was he dragging everything? Glaring at the fatso, Brandon asked, "She always wants to be sure, Sir. Please let us meet each other."

"Um..." The fatso's face paled.

Brandon quirked an eyebrow and took a closer look at the man. Upon spotting beads of sweat and shaky limbs, he snarled. Damn, why had he been so weak earlier? He shouldn't have fallen asleep; now, he didn't even know what was wrong with Mika.

"Give me a sec." The fatso ran towards the exit door and opened it. "I'll ask the dean if we could make an exception for her." With that, he dashed out of the room and slammed the door shut.

Folding his arms over his chest, Brandon stared at the door. At least the fatso couldn't hide his nervousness, but how could he find Mika then? Would the liar have the guts to come back, take off the transfusion sets, and face his wrath?

Wait. Why would he need someone to remove the apparatus for him? To prevent infection? Scutum would easily ward off those microorganisms when they entered his body. To minimize blood loss? His regeneration would seal the wounds shut within a split-second.

Brandon looked up at the blood bags. Only a quarter remained, but Brandon figured he'd better wait. Before falling asleep, he'd heard Mika and the rabbit woman talking about his need for a total blood drainage to remove the scorpion's poison and restore Scutum. Moreover, he didn't know how much blood he'd received and what awaited him out there.

To combat boredom, Brandon picked up a book - a thin notebook - from the desk beside him and scrutinized the text on the cover. _"The Methdroid,"_ it said.

_Droid. Android. Machine and robot stuff._

His coffin was a machine that could read and understand his thoughts.

Brandon quickly opened the notebook, but he ended up skimming the wall of text on the first few pages. DNA, conjugation, binary fission; whatever they actually were, they reminded him of his failing grades at school. Why should he care about these scientific terms when Scutum had once told him about mating folks in a much simpler way?

The latter pages drew him in, but he skipped a few details. Mechanical stuff bored him as much as scientific stuff.

Two virgin folks mated and produced a sterile offspring. Then some researchers inserted the offspring into an engine to create a weird-ass machine, which they dubbed as a "methdroid" - a combination of "Methuselah" and "Android." Yeah, that was all he wanted to know.

The comparison tables and the list formats on the last few pages kept him glued to the book. They told him about the similarities and the differences between a folk-infected person and a methdroid, explaining their power system in process. A folk-infected person required blood to cast a power, whereas a methdroid could do it without requiring some kind of fuel. However, if a methdroid generated too many things for too long, it would overheat.

Brandon stroked his chin as he recalled Orion's warning about his overheating coffin. It had told him to stop once the coffin smoldered, hadn't it? Well, now Brandon understood why. If he pushed it further, the coffin would stop working for a while. The biggest threat, though, was the loss of durability as it cooled off. A swing of the coffin could send an orgman flying with ease, but when it overheated, an orgman's punch could even smash the weapon container.

Another interesting thing he'd read was the anti-theft mechanism of methdroid weapons. They identified their owners, so in case some strangers tried to use his coffin, they could never summon any of its weapons; at most, they could only smack an enemy with it. However, these methdroid weapons would make an exception for someone close to the owner. Brandon smiled, imagining how cool Mika would look as she wielded his Cerberus and coffin.

After closing the book and placing it back on the desk, Brandon looked up. Crimson stains remained in the deflated bags.

Brandon grabbed an IV line, ripped it off, and tossed it aside. Blood gushed out of the wound and trickled down his hand and forearm, but he went on with another line. Then another. And another. Rivulets of crimson ran down his limbs and stained the white bed sheet red. A few seconds later, the bleeding stopped.

When he hopped off the bed, something splashed against one of his feet. Blood. The fluid dripped down the IV line he had just pulled off and pooled around the bed.

Eh, why should he care? If he could even see his own reflection on the marble tiles, then these people must have great cleaning service in the building.

Brandon walked towards the exit door and opened it, leaving bloody footprints behind. The beads of blood around his limbs soon dried up, and he growled at the stickiness around his hands and feet. A quick wash at the nearby sink would be nice, but the truth about Mika mattered more.

Stepping out of the room led him to a hallway with a T-junction at its end. Two orgmen in suits and shades guarded the forks, while a huge, heavily-armored bull man stood in front of the steel door ahead. Cyan glow radiated from its eyes. Dark blue luminescent lines decorated its silver armor as though it was a circuit board. A massive double-bitted axe rested in its hands, its blades and handle sharing the same color and lines as the beast man's armor.

A robot, or rather, a methdroid. The constant whirring of an engine from within its body gave out its identity.

Good thing someone had left a notebook about methdroids beside him; otherwise, his knowledge would be limited to the fact that a bull man was known as a minotaur and part of Greek mythology. But how could he defeat it? His fists couldn't even dent his own coffin.

When he took another step, the armored minotaur pointed its axe at him. The two orgmen charged at him, each of them pulling a stun gun out of their suit. Another form of methdroid, Brandon thought, since ordinary stun guns would never work against an undead man such as him.

As the orgmen drew closer, Brandon dashed at them and slid with a leg extended. The silver-skinned ogres tripped on him and crashed to the ground, their stun guns slipping out of their hands.

Brandon stood up and glared at the incoming minotaur. For a moment, he struggled to keep a straight face; the idiot held the axe overhead, eager to _swat_ him like a fly.

 _I'd use the blade if I were you._ Brandon rushed at the minotaur and slid like a professional soccer player. The methdroid tripped on him, and ear-piercing shrieks echoed. A loud crash cut them off.

When Brandon got up and turned, the minotaur stood up. Behind the methdroid was a crater, on which shattered shades and two worn suits rested. The stun guns remained intact, but Brandon wouldn't pick them up. He wouldn't pass the anti-theft mechanism of the weapons.

The feature, however, wouldn't matter for an axe. Merely swinging it would cause a lot of damage.

The minotaur charged at him, his axe ready to swat. Brandon stood still, and once the axe came down, he jumped back and stepped on the weapon. The methdroid tried to lift it, but after a few seconds of struggle and forcing some sweat out of Brandon's body, it let it go and pulled back an armored fist.

Brandon lunged at the minotaur shoulder-first and tackled it to the ground. With the methdroid down, he grabbed the axe and raised it. _This is how you wield an axe: use the blade._

Crunches resounded across the hallway as Brandon reduced the minotaur into a heap of scrap metal and snapped cables. The sparks on the wires soon died out, just like the radiance along the lines on the armor's fragments.

After wiping the sweat off his forehead, Brandon approached the steel door with his new weapon in hand. He grabbed the handle and pulled it, but the door wouldn't open. He decided to push and even kick it, but it wouldn't budge.

 _Fine._ Brandon nodded and readied his axe. In a few swings, the door went down.

Then he heard someone shout, "Nagas! Beat him back to the lab!"


	23. Father's Fury

A silver serpentine figure hurtled towards Brandon with its clawed hands in front. Brandon dived out of harm's way, only to find its twin coming at him like a missile. It slammed into him, driving him into the wall as its knife-like fingernails pierced through his chest.

Brandon regained his composure just as the serpentine figure darted away with bloody claws. _Snake man, huh?_ Wounds regenerating, Brandon cleaved the creature in two and kicked the bifurcated body away.

Brandon raised an eyebrow at the lack of gushing blood from the corpse. These snake men were no different from orgmen; hell, their silver scales shared the same color as those ogres' skin.

The other snake man slithered towards him, fast as a speeding motorbike. The claws came, at which Brandon sidestepped and swung his axe. The blade ripped through the creature's waist, and the snake man dropped dead in two parts.

"Come back here!"

The bodies of the snake people crumbled to silver dust, and the particles shot up into the air. They streaked towards the man in a dark blue suit in the distance and went into his open mouth. Hmm, this must be the person he heard about before he fell asleep: David Rossi, the dean of Metaslica Faculty of Science. But what kind of alien sorcery was this? What would consuming these snake people give him?

Brandon didn't have the time to think about it anyway. Two snakes with the upper body of a bodybuilder stood around David, hissing while flicking their forked tongues. When David roared and pointed at Brandon, they curled themselves into a ball and rolled towards the undead man.

Brandon hopped over them and held his axe overhead, ready to _swat_ the dean. Despite feeling a pang of guilt from mocking the minotaur earlier, he remained poker-faced. Oh, well, could David survive getting cleaved in two? If the dean died, who would give him a clue about where Mika had gone?

David grinned as he jumped back; Brandon believed the dean was calling him a clown in his mind. The axe smashed into the ground and sent marmoreal fragments everywhere.

As Brandon charged at David, the dean retreated. Silver scales coated the dean's body, and his fingers elongated. Snakes. All of David's stretchy fingers transformed into these pesky little reptiles.

Something rumbled behind him.

Brandon and David stopped in their tracks and leaped. Two silver spheres rolled beneath their airborne figures.

David's snakes shot out at Brandon, whose axe struck him like a racket against a ball. David crashed into the wall, his serpentine fingers reverting.

Brandon landed on his feet and rushed towards the crash site. Hearing rumbling noises from behind, Brandon jumped. Two silver boulders rolled below him and towards the sprawled David.

"Stop!"

The boulders disintegrated, and the remains flew into David's open mouth. Brandon still didn't know what the alien sorcery was for, but it sure saved the dean's scaly ass.

As Brandon continued his stride, David got up and clapped. Then he smacked the ground as though it was a war drum.

A huge portal of swirling light opened up between Brandon and David. A massive silver fist shot out of it and slammed into Brandon's chest, sending him flying a few feet away. Thousands of needles punctured his lungs, but the sensation vanished a few seconds later.

Brandon got up to see a colossal snake man slithering out of the fading portal. The creature reminded him of the muscular snake men he saw earlier, but this one was much bigger. If not for its slightly stooped posture, its body must've smashed through the tall ceiling.

How the hell could he slay this behemoth? Beheading it? Perhaps that would work, since it resembled an orgman and no orgmen could survive decapitation.

Face hardened with determination, Brandon charged at the humongous reptile. A fist came down, at which Brandon jumped. He landed on the snake man's shoulder and began hacking its neck as though it was a log. The creature shrieked and thrashed, but Brandon held his ground.

_C'mon, just a little more-_

Whoosh!

David's serpentine fingers coiled around Brandon's legs and pulled him down. As he crashed into the ground face-first, the snake man whirled and showered him with fists. Tiles shattered and bones rattled as blood poured out of Brandon's mouth.

Brandon regretted having thought of not needing Scutum's barriers earlier. His regeneration couldn't possibly keep up with this, unless...

Releasing his axe, Brandon closed his eye and remained still. His heart thumped. Beads of cold sweat rolled down his body. _If David doesn't fall for this, I'm done for. Scutum, please pause my regeneration for a while.  
_

After another round of beating, David finally let go of Brandon's legs. "That's enough. Looks like he's out cold right now."

The pummeling stopped. Feeling sore everywhere, Brandon thanked Scutum in his heart.

"What the hell? It's that dreaded 'shock!'"

A set of rapid footsteps drew closer, at which Brandon opened his eye, grabbed his axe, and swung it. The axe tore through David's legs, splattering blood against Brandon. The legless dean landed on his side with his scales disappearing from his pale skin.

Soothing sensation coursed through Brandon's body. After thanking Scutum once more, Brandon got up and spat out the remaining blood in his mouth.

When the snake man brought down a fist, its body disintegrated. The silver dust flew into David's open mouth, and the gushing blood from the stumps of his legs transformed into new bones, nerves, and blood vessels. Soon, muscles and skin enveloped them.

David raised his hands. "I give up. I can't fight anymore."

Brandon quirked an eyebrow. Aside from trembling and breathing rapidly, David looked so pale.

"I barely survived by inhaling my naga's remains... I went all-out with my folk's power and used up too much blood."

"We need blood to use our folk's power?"

David nodded. "Methuselah folks can convert our blood into anything depending on their specialization. My folk, Ophiuchus, grants me snake-related powers."

Blood... Did Mika even know about this? What if she accidentally used up all her blood? Rage boiling up within him, Brandon seized David by his collar. "Tell me what happened to that silver-haired girl!"

"Silver-haired girl?"

"Blue-eyed, has very short hair, and looks very athletic for a girl of her age! I trained her!" Brandon shook David. "Was she really waiting for me in the lobby?"

David's eyes widened. "That girl is your apprentice?"

"She's my child! What happened to her?"

David gulped. "I shooed h-her out of here. She's a slum girl, so I th-thought her relationship with y-you was a b-bull."

Brandon slapped David with the flat side of his axe. "Damn you!" He smacked the dean again. "She may not have my blood running in her, but I treat her like my own daughter!" Tears welled in his eyes as he whacked David again and recalled his vow; breaking up with Mika's mother and making her cry were bad enough, and now, Mika was out of his sight? "Help me find her!" Brandon pushed the blade of his axe against David's throat. "Else I'll cut off your head!"

"Y-yes!" The puffy-faced David pointed at the wall behind him. When Brandon snarled at the lack of a real door, David added, "A secret door over there will take us to my office. Once we're there, I'll spread the info ASAP."

Brandon nodded and lowered his axe. With David in his grip, he dashed at the wall and slammed David against it. "Open the so-called secret door."

David placed his shaky, sweaty hands against the wall. Something whirred, and a small portion of the wall - big enough for an orgman to go through - moved in before sliding to the side. A stone staircase with steel railings lay beyond the opened door. Once Brandon ran up the stairs, the door slid shut.

A few seconds later, Brandon arrived before a steel door. Locked or not, he kicked it down and stepped over it as though it was a doormat.

David's office was a small rectangular room with a mahogany desk and a swivel chair at the center. Bookshelves and racks filled with trophies stood around them. Surrounding the exit door was a pair of potted plants.

Spotting a telephone and a computer on the desk, Brandon approached the swivel chair and dropped David on it. "Do your job." He pointed his axe at the shivering dean. "Now."

"Y-yes." After fixing his sitting position, David eyed the notes beneath the glass table cover and reached for the phone. "Wh-what's her name, Sir?"

"Mika Asagi. Remember that."

David nodded. Guided by the notes, he punched the number. "Good morning, Metaslica Research Facility. This is David Rossi." A pause. "Send a signal to our orgmen and asuras. Tell them to look out for a girl named Mika Asagi."

Brandon tapped David's head with the bottom of his axe. "Features."

"That girl has blue eyes and very short silver hair. She looks very athletic for a girl of her age."

"Don't forget the outfit," Brandon added. "And let everybody know that it's Brandon 'Beyond the Grave' Heat's request."

With a gulp, David said, "She wore a leather jacket that made her shoulders look very broad. Once they find her, bring her to the university. It's a request from Brandon 'Beyond the Grave' Heat. Thank you." David put down the phone.

"Good." Brandon took a peek at the notes. "Next up, tell the Gatou Gang."

"B-but it's 3AM-" Brandon slapped David with the flat side of his axe. "O-okay, I'll call Mr. Wong." David dialed the number. "Good morning, Mr. Wong. I'm sorry for calling you this late, but could your men look out for a girl named Mika Asagi? She-"

"You can skip the features," Brandon cut in. "Mr. Wong knows her."

David nodded. "Tell me when you've found her, Sir. It's a request from Brandon 'Beyond the Grave' Heat. Thank you." He put down the phone.

"Thank you." Brandon turned away. "I'll go look for her as well."

"Wait."

Brandon turned. David pulled the desk drawer open, revealing a stack of notebooks and an old cellphone. After picking up and activating the old phone, David handed it to Brandon. "Take this with you. I'll keep you updated about her."

Brandon looked down at his own outfit and scowled. He'd never heard of boxer shorts with pockets.

"Looks like human's clothes are too small for you. I'll get you an orgman's suit."

"An orgman's suit?" Brandon rubbed his cheek with a finger. He missed his good old days in a suit, when he and Mika's mother were still alive, but now wasn't the time to be fancy. "Just the pants and the dress shirt will suffice."

"All right."


	24. Secrets

If his body and limbs hadn't felt sticky as heck, Brandon wouldn't have taken a bath; the stench of dried blood and sweat would never bother him thanks to his dead olfactory.

After drying himself with a towel, though, Brandon realized that a bath could do more than washing the grimes off his skin. Although it was 3AM and the water was cold as ice, the activity invigorated and warmed him up like a transfusion.

The orgman's outfit David had given him was icing on the cake. Not only the size suited him, but the fabric also felt so smooth and cool against his skin. As for looks, well, the dress shirt would never complement his wild black mane and gigantic silver axe, and lacking a jacket and a tie certainly made him look less dashing. Not that he cared; it wasn't like he was about to dance with Mika's mother in a ball.

 _Ah, the good old days._ Smirking, Brandon walked out of the bathroom with the axe in hand. He remembered that night at the ball, when he was still eighteen; even without any makeup, Mika's mother easily stunned him with her pink gown and graceful smile. As she complimented his looks in a suit, he could only stand in awe until she held his hand and invited him to a dance.

The request had given him weak legs, cold sweat, and a pounding heart. A street rat like him didn't know how to dance, but he didn't want to disappoint his sweetheart either. Sure, she had offered to guide him, but then the dance involved _touching_ her bare back. His cheeks flushed at that, but for some reason, it felt so thrilling.

Brandon wondered if she actually liked his touch, but for sure, he'd love to know how her dainty hands would feel on his bare back.

"Sir, where are you going?"

Face reddening in embarrassment, Brandon looked around frantically. Opaque glass walls surrounded the hallway he stood at. A digital clock hung above him, showing off a big red 03:35. The lobby, where empty benches and inactive escalators rested, awaited him in the distance.

He had walked past the dean's office.

Brandon turned to see a smiling David. The dean's skin had regained its colors, and his face looked less swollen now. Hmm, Brandon wondered if this snake hid something behind that smile.

"Uh, your face is red."

"That's none of your business."

"Ah, sorry," David said. "When you've found Mika, please return here with her. I have something to show you."

Brandon raised an eyebrow.

"As you've seen, I'm very proficient with my folk's power. I've visited the misty region only once to make my folk surface and learn the basics."

Brandon looked at David expectantly. _Must be something related to special training or stuff..._

"Do you know what a methdroid is?"

"Two virgin folks mate and produce a sterile offspring. It is then inserted into various engines to create weird-ass machines." Brandon flipped his axe in the air. "Such as this and its original owner."

David nodded. "Speaking of which, I'll first tell you a secret about this axe." He approached Brandon. "See a switch near the grip? The handle has been designed in a way that you can reach it with a thumb."

Brandon searched the handle of the axe. When he spotted the switch right above his thumb, he muttered, "Whatever it does, I can't bypass the anti-theft mechanism, can I?"

"Then let me command it to make an exception for you. I was behind its creation after all." David looked at the axe. "Labrys, lend your strength to your new owner."

Oh, so that was the axe's name, huh? Brandon pushed the switch, and cyan light traveled along the bevels. As the radiance expanded outwards to form bigger blades, Brandon raised an eyebrow. What was this? Pure energy contained within an invisible barrier?

"Ever heard of lightsabers?" David asked, at which Brandon shook his head. "Lightsabers are swords made of contained plasma. Right now, Labrys' blades are no different."

"Plasma?"

"Plasma is hot ionized gas consisting of-"

Recalling his failing grades at school, Brandon hissed. "Could you kindly spare the scientific explanation? Just tell me what these plasma blades are good for."

"Sorry," David replied. "Plasma can cauterize wounds with its intense heat. Since our regeneration system involves our blood transforming into the lost tissues, not bleeding at all is actually detrimental to us."

Brandon nodded and pushed the switch again. The contained plasma vanished without a trace. "Now," Brandon began, "tell me how you can be so proficient with your folk's powers."

David cleared his throat. "Not long after the mist outbreak, my scientists managed to breed two virgin folks and produce a time-warping offspring. I thought a time-warping robot wouldn't be worth it, so I decided to create a chamber with it."

"How did you know that it was a time-warping folk? No folk can talk without mist."

"We keep our folks in our special petri dishes before using them. We've built a communication system in the dishes, which let us talk to them and monitor the folk domestication and breeding progress."

Brandon scratched his head. Well, he knew what a petri dish was, but things still sounded so complicated to him.

"The time in the training chamber moves very fast," David continued. "One hour outside is equal to one week inside. However, the chamber will overheat once the time inside reaches the end of the fourth week."

"How long does it take to cool off?"

"Twenty-four hours outside chamber time." David looked at the digital clock above him. "It should be ready in seven hours from now."

"Okay, seven hours." Brandon pointed his axe at David. "I hope you aren't lying. Otherwise, you'll suffer, get it?"

"I nearly defeated you, remember?"

"Fair point."

Brandon turned away and walked towards the lobby, savoring the breeze from the air conditioners. Lights glinted off the marble tiles and pillars; however, at some places, big craters and dents marred them. What an unusual sight in a glorious place filled with arrogant jerks...

Brandon stopped in his tracks. Perhaps there had been a fight here? Or did some orgmen run amok? He couldn't find any trace of blood after all.

Oh, well, if David had indeed fought Mika and ordered his cleaning service to mop the blood off the floor, that wouldn't be a big problem. Brandon would soon meet Mika and learn what had actually happened; if David had actually laid a finger on his precious child, then the dean had better be prepared for his fury. He'd punish David not only out of his fatherly love for her, but also to relay her mother's wrath; no mother would like to watch her child suffer.

Brandon made his way past the craters and empty benches and towards the glass doors - the exit. Through them, he saw the night sky, decorated by myriad of stars and a full moon. The row of street lamps that lay across the building illuminated the desolate parking lot and revealed puddles of murky water on the ground.

As he pushed one of the doors open, he spotted a teal electric guitar under a street lamp. He approached it, and a grinning Billy shot out of the guitar.

"Good morning!" Placing his fingers under his chin, Billy eyed Brandon's axe. "That's a cool-looking axe by the way, although it doesn't go well with your dress shirt."

Oh, come on, who didn't know that? Brandon hissed. "Fashion isn't the most important thing in the world."

"Don't you think that Mika will prefer if her father looks more fashionable?"

"A good fashion sense is unrelated to my ability to protect her." Brandon folded his arms over his chest. "Now, why are you here? Do you happen to know where Mika has gone?"

"Of course!"

Brandon's jaw dropped. This ghost knew it and was still nice enough to deliver him the news. A pang of guilt hit Brandon when he recalled their argument about whether or not they should spare Jyuji.

Usually, Brandon would never trust someone so easily, but it'd feel so wrong to not try anything that'd lead him to Mika.

"I'll take you to where she is on one condition."

Brandon knew what Billy wanted, but his child mattered more than anything. About her dreams of entering Metaslica University, well, it shouldn't be a big deal since David now feared him so much. "I won't bother Jyuji. Is that what you want?"

"You read my mind." Billy picked up his guitar and rocketed into the sky. "Follow me."

With a broad smile, Brandon jumped onto a street lamp. He couldn't wait to see Mika again.


	25. Iron Phoenix

As a radiant ball emerged at the horizon, the sky lightened in streaks of pink and orange. Beams of light illuminated the town below and intensified with each minute.

From the rooftop of an eight-story tenement, Mika looked down. So, that was where all the scraping noises and chatters came from. Underneath the mesh of tiny lanterns, people were dragging and pushing chairs, tables, and hawker stalls out of their houses.

It had been at least five years since Mika visited the Chinatown for its cuisine. As she jumped from one rooftop to another with Katrina, she scanned the buildings across them for the hot pot restaurant she used to visit with her mother.

It was still there; Mika recognized the cartoonish picture of a smiling hot pot and "Yuan's Steamboat" underneath a line of embossed Chinese letters on the red signboard. The images of her mom putting shrimps into the simmering pot of soup flashed across her mind, and her stomach growled.

"Focus, Missy!" Jyuji shouted from the sky above. "I ain't gonna pick you up if you fall."

Mika nodded and returned her focus to the road ahead. The end of the block was near.

Katrina leaped first. Then Mika followed. As she soared across the sky, she wondered what would Brandon think of her when he saw her make such a big jump. Must be something along the line of _"I'm so proud of you."_

Once Mika's feet touched the ground, she ran after Katrina. The rabbit woman glanced over her shoulder, probably to make sure that she hadn't run so fast that Mika couldn't catch up with her.

"Stop!" Jyuji descended to the rooftop. "I see a weird bird."

Everybody stopped moving. Looking up, Mika spotted a huge silhouette of a bird in the sky. It drew closer and closer, showing off the blue, green, and yellow hues that decorated its red feathered body.

Then it landed in front of them.

Mika's jaw dropped at the sight of the creature, an amalgamation of various birds. It had the head of a pheasant, the body of a duck, and the tail of a peacock. For some reason, whirring sounds escaped from its body as though it hid an engine within.

Slowly and gracefully, the bird walked towards Mika. "Silver-haired girl," it began in a deep woman's voice, its- no, _her_ glowing cyan eyes fixated on Mika, "are you Mika Asagi?"

Stepping back, Mika gulped. "H-how did you know?"

"Master Wong sent me to escort you to our hideout. It was a request from Brandon 'Beyond the Grave' Heat."

"Brandon?" Mika gasped. For real? Had her father woken up and made his way out of the university? Did he teach that bastard David a lesson during the breakout?

"Hey, birdie," Jyuji spoke in a condescending tone, "do you actually know where that undead guy is?"

The bird looked at Jyuji. "He is at Metaslica Faculty of Science. Somehow, he made David Rossi call Master Wong very early in the morning."

"As expected, Brandon tried to find Mika." Katrina stroked her chin. "I have a feeling that he beat David up and made him call Mr. Wong."

"Wow!" Mika smiled broadly. That was her beloved father. She knew she could always count on him.

"Do you trust me, dragon?" the bird asked. "Honestly, you look unusual for a dragon. My partner is one, but he lacks wings. Instead, he has a serpentine body, the mane of a lion, and a pair of deer antlers and very long whiskers."

"Oh, yeah? I can't wait to see him. I wanna see how strong he is."

The bird chuckled. "You will regret it."

"I'm not scared, birdie. Take me to him."

"Very well." The bird paused. "By the way, you do not look as malicious as everybody says. Are you the dragon who destroys the windmills at South City and the slum?"

"He is," Katrina cut in. "However, Mika and I have tamed him."

Wait, Mika couldn't take so much credits for "taming" Jyuji. "Uh, Mrs. Ka-"

"Tamed me? My ass!" Jyuji snorted, puffs of smoke shooting out of his ears and nostrils. "I chose to be a good dragon, get it?"

"We snapped you out of Draco's influence."

"Hey, rabbit woman! You can kick Draco outta my mind, but if I choose to be an evil dragon, there's no way you can stop me!"

Mika laughed softly. Typical Jyuji, acting as if he were the meanest guy in the world when he was actually a nice person. The bird laughed as well; maybe she knew Jyuji's facade despite having just met him for a while.

"By the time we arrive at the hideout, my partner must still be at the Garden of Contemplation with Master Wong." The bird bowed. "Before we depart, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tie Fenghuang."

"I've heard of the fenghuang mythology," Katrina commented. "It's the Chinese equivalent to a phoenix, but with more grace and without the resurrection story. As far as I know, a dragon and a fenghuang symbolize perfect harmony in the myth."

"Precisely, rabbit woman."

"What does the 'Tie' mean by the way?"

"Iron. I am a methdroid, a mesh of folk-powered engines coated in a thick layer of alien metal." Fenghuang turned around. "Hop onto me, Mika. With my speed, we can reach the garden in a few minutes."

Slowly approaching the bird, Mika looked at Katrina. The rabbit woman simply nodded as green aura coated her body.

"Get on her already, slowpoke!" Jyuji barked from behind. "We can catch up with you!"

It wasn't a matter of speed, actually. Before they started their journey to the Chinatown, Katrina had admitted how she could carry Mika to save time; however, the rabbit woman decided that letting Mika travel by her own feet would strengthen her legs and allow bigger jumps.

Katrina wanted her to be independent, unlike Brandon, who would've carried her all the way to the Chinatown.

Mika jumped onto Fenghuang's back and wrapped her arm around the bird's neck. Strange. If Fenghuang's body were made of alien metal, why didn't the feather prick her? Perhaps the bird willed them to be soft, so that Mika could ride her? She had to ask the bird later.

The creature exclaimed, "Hold tight!" Then she leaped and rocketed across the sky.

Everything blurred. Mika's stomach churned, and acid crawled up her throat. Head throbbing and heart pounding, she tightened her hug around the bird's neck. The strong gusts of wind could blow her off any time.

A moment later, Fenghuang decelerated. Mika's vision was still blurry and spinning, but it gradually stabilized as Fenghuang dived. Her head throbbed less now, while her heartbeat slowed down a bit. However, sourness hadn't left her mouth.

When Fenghuang set her feet on the ground, Mika remained on the bird's back.

Fenghuang glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, it seems like we have to wait for the dragon."

Mika looked back. With her green aura fading, Katrina jumped off a shoddy six-story tenement and landed behind them.

"Still dizzy, girl?" the rabbit woman asked.

Mika smiled. "I'm feeling better now." After releasing Fenghuang's neck, she hopped off the bird.

"This is a good hideout indeed," Katrina commented, looking at the dilapidated tenements around them. "Who would've thought that a mafia organization would build their base here?"

"Master Wong can have these tenements demolished when he needs it." Fenghuang pointed her wing at the structure ahead. "Look at that, rabbit woman."

Mika couldn't help but mouth a "whoa" at the structure. A roof similar to an upturned artichoke leaf rested atop the center of the stone wall. A huge circular hole lay underneath it; beyond the opening, a stone path and various plants awaited. The view resembled that of a forest, but for some reason, peace and serenity flowed out of the crevice and relieved her of the discomfort from traveling.

"This is what we call 'Moon Gate.' It will take us to the Garden of Contemplation, where Master Wong and Tie Long await. Tie Long is why this garden exists; he is too large to enter Jiugang Castle."

"Tie Long?" Mika stroked her chin. "Another methdroid?"

Fenghuang nodded. "He is the dragon I spoke about."

"Uh, may I ask something, Fenghuang?"

"Yes."

"You said your body was made of alien metal. Why didn't your feather hurt me?"

Fenghuang chuckled. "My feather is naturally soft, but I can will it to be hard and sharp."

"I see." With Katrina beside her and Fenghuang leading the way, Mika walked towards the moon gate. Just as she reached the hole, she spotted a dragon-shaped shadow beneath her. Looking up, she found Jyuji flying over the roof.

"Stop right there, dragon!" Fenghuang shouted; for once, Mika noticed anger in the bird's voice. "Master Wong will not tolerate any damage to the garden!"

"I'm not burning anything, birdie!" Jyuji kept flying. "I just can't wait to meet your dragon partner!"

Fenghuang sighed. "One cannot enjoy the beauty of this garden by flying over the trees and seeing everything at once."

Once they walked past the opening, Mika paced very slowly. The breeze. The plants. The tranquility. The garden had everything that could make even the most stressful man relax.

Wondering what granted the garden such an aura, Mika studied the vegetation while walking. Her jaw dropped; only a pro botanist could identify all the shrubs and trees. Out of everything, Mika only recognized chrysanthemums, bamboos, pines, and plums.

When they went deeper, Mika's ears registered the burbling of water amid the rustling leaves. Jyuji's angry voice echoed, which made her wince. It ruined the peaceful atmosphere of this place.

"He must have met Long." Fenghuang walked more quickly, but still as gracefully as ever.

Mika and Katrina sped up as well. Soon, they arrived in a grassy opening with a large koi-laden pond. Jyuji hovered before the head of a gigantic serpentine dragon, right beside a gazebo. The sapphire dragon looked so small; hell, the humongous jade dragon could swallow him if he wanted to.

Antlers of a deer, very long whiskers, the mane of a lion... The serpentine dragon must be Tie Long!

"What didja say? Defeat me easily?" Jyuji spat at the pond, scaring off the nearby school of koi. "C'mon, let's fight!"

Long laughed. "Master Wong forbids me from fighting, little dragon. I can level this district with ease if I am not careful."

"Then let's take it to the sky!"

"Why should we fight? It will hurt both of us. We must stay hale and hearty to face the mist."

As the dragons continued to bicker, Mika noticed that Fenghuang's attention was at the gazebo and the bridge leading to it. Stepping past the bird, Mika spotted a white-haired man in the gazebo. As he slowly crouched and extended his hand, he opened the bamboo fan in his other hand.

Although he was in red-and-gold pajamas instead of a changsan, Mika recognized the thick eyebrows and bushy mustache. The old man was Richard Wong, the leader of Gatou Gang.


	26. Dragon Fire Exhibition

Together with Fenghuang, Mika crossed the bridge and towards the gazebo. Wong swung his arms in the distance, closing and opening the bamboo fan from time to time. Although Jyuji's shouts and Long's baritone voice echoed across the garden, Wong continued with his practice.

The old man soon closed his bamboo fan and stood upright. After clasping the fan with both of his hands, he held it in front of his face.

"Master Wong," Fenghuang called out, stepping into the gazebo with Mika, "I have brought Mika Asagi here."

Wong lowered his fan and looked at Mika. "Ah, we meet again, young lady." He shifted his gaze to the stump of Mika's left arm. "Do not resent David for ripping it off. Without him, Brandon would have succumbed to the scorpion's poison."

Mika growled. Damn, she should've known that Wong was on good terms with Metaslica University; the old man would undoubtedly defend that bastard David.

"David is a despicable man, but you and Brandon must work together with him to save the State of Billion." Wong cleared his throat. "Within Metaslica Faculty of Science lies the Chrono Chamber. David has been using it to hone his skills and make soldiers to hold off the mist, and only he can access it."

"The Chrono Chamber?"

"It is an indestructible training chamber that goes outside the natural flow of time. An hour here is a week in there. I have ordered David to let you and your comrades use it."

Mika's eyes widened. Although David deserved to suffer for beating her up and taking Brandon away from her, his Chrono Chamber would make a fine compensation... No, what was she thinking? If Brandon hadn't been such a strong fighter, that snake bastard must've kept him "imprisoned" in his lab and turned him into his pawn or even a guinea pig.

"I know it is hard to not hate David, but you have to understand what is happening to the state. The mist will end our lives before we can live to the fullest." Wong pointed his bamboo fan at Mika. "Do you have a dream you wish to achieve before you die?"

Mika nodded, her face sagging. "I..." A lump formed in her throat. "I want to enter Metaslica Faculty of Science to study about Methuselah folks. I don't want Brandon to depend on blood transfusions and hibernation anymore." _Because I miss my mother's hugs and smiles, while Brandon can give me those as long as he isn't hibernating_.

"Then let go of your hate." Wong lowered his fan. "When the mist ordeal is over, you will cross paths with him again."

Mika nodded with a scowl. Why did this snake bastard have to stick to her like a stamp and an envelope? Couldn't he just move out or something?

 _"Then let go of your hate,"_ Wong's voice echoed in her head. _"When the mist ordeal is over, you will cross paths with him again."_

Mika took a deep breath before exhaling. Perhaps she should learn more about David, so that her hate could fade away.

"Now that you are here, I need to return to Jiugang Castle and call David." Wong paced past Mika and Fenghuang. "Feel free to practice your folk's power in this garden, but take good care of its beauty."

Mika turned. "Mr. Wong."

Stopping in the middle of the bridge, Wong glanced over his shoulder. "Yes?"

"Can you tell me more about Mr. David? Do you know why he hates slum people so much?"

"I shall tell you about it later." With that, Wong continued his journey out of the garden.

"Okay." Mika looked at Fenghuang, who followed Wong. "Fenghuang?"

The bird continued her stride. "Did you not notice the sudden silence?"

"Um..." Racking her brain to figure out the meaning of the silence, Mika stood still...

Jyuji and Long had stopped bickering.

Mika immediately ran towards Fenghuang, who stood in the middle of the bridge while looking up. Katrina, who stood beside the pond, was looking up as well with Long.

"Your dragon friend is a showoff," Fenghuang grumbled.

Mika shifted her gaze to the sky. With his body coated in azure flame, Jyuji streaked across the horizon like a blazing comet. Then he stopped and whirled, sending blue basketball-sized fireballs everywhere. The fiery spheres traveled for a few meters before fading away.

"Impressive, little dragon." Long twirled his whisker with a clawed finger.

Jyuji dived down to the eye-level of the humongous jade dragon, his flame fading. "Your turn."

"Ah, I can only show a tiny portion of my power, little dragon," Long replied. "My full power is too destructive."

"Stop boasting about how destructive your power is! Show me what you can do!"

"Very well." Long looked up and opened his mouth. A red spherical glow built up at the base of his tongue.

"Classic fire breath." Jyuji shrugged. "How original."

A stream of fire shot out of Long's maw and into the sky. Jyuji flew after the flame and opened his mouth, drawing in a deep, hearty breath. The blaze went into his mouth and swirled into a fiery sphere that fit in his maw perfectly. Then he closed his mouth, swallowed, and burped.

Mika's jaw dropped. Jyuji _ate_ the fire!

" _Fire Eater_ ," Katrina commented. "Someone with this ability can consume fire to replenish some blood, provided that the fire burns less hot than the consumer's. This means Long's fire burns less hot than Jyuji's."

"Ya hear that, big snake?" Jyuji laughed, threads of smoke escaping from his mouth and nostrils. "Your fire burns hot enough only to be my breakfast."

"Little dragon, why do you not try breathing some fire at me?" Long challenged. "I can consume fire, too."

Mika gasped, Katrina shook her head and tsked, while Fenghuang remained calm.

"I'll melt your body, you idiot!" Jyuji snapped.

"Melt my body?" Long chuckled. "I wish you luck, little dragon."

Jyuji inhaled before breathing out a raging gush of blue flame. The fire struck Long's face, only to seep into his jade scales. Mika scratched her head; was it magic? She couldn't see any pores on the dragon's body.

Long hovered still. "All methdroids have a mechanism known as _Heat Converter_ in their bodies. It allows absorbing fire no matter how hot it burns. However, absorbing fire for a long time will produce heat and may cause overheat." He laughed. "I am still superior to you, little dragon."

"You're wrong, Long," Katrina cut in. "My knowledge about methdroids is limited, but I do know about overheat. Your system will shut down and your durability will take a hit. When that happens, Jyuji can shred you."

"We will not shut down due to overheat, rabbit woman," Fenghuang replied. "The folks that breathe life to our engines grant us the power to conjure fire, hence the immunity to the overheat-induced shutdown. Moreover, overheating allows us to move faster."

"Faster, huh?" Jyuji spat at the pond. "I bet you're still slower than me when overheating, big snake."

"It is unfortunate that every methdroid will overheat at some point in a battle, and I cannot do much even with the boost in speed, but I am content with what I have." Long pointed at his own face with a clawed finger. "Before I overheat, my body is harder than diamond."

"Harder...than...diamond?" Mika's jaw dropped. She had never heard of harder-than-diamond materials; perhaps because they didn't exist, or her knowledge was outdated. Then again, Jyuji had always reminded her that Methuselah folks could defy logic and make the impossible possible.

"Pfft, defeating you is pretty simple." Jyuji folded his arms over his chest. "I'll burn you until you overheat. Then I'll finish you off with my claws."

"If you can last long enough until I overheat, you win. However, it is not as simple as you think."

"You think you can stop my fire?" Jyuji wagged a finger. "C'mon, show me what you've got!"

"I can conjure a rain to weaken your fire, but I do not need it to defeat you." Long's clawed fingers came like a pair of tweezers to seize Jyuji's wing. "You are so small that I can swat you like a fly."

"Swat me like a fly? Big snake, how about you try swatting me now?" Jyuji pointed at the fingernails that held his wing. "You gotta let me go first of course."

"I do not wish to hurt you, little dragon."

Once Long released Jyuji's wing, the sapphire dragon zipped around the serpentine beast. Long only laughed.

"Long, knowing you, I am certain that this will last for days," Fenghuang scolded. "This young lady is not here to watch a rivalry between two dragons."

The dragon looked down at Fenghuang, not caring about the "fly" that buzzed around him. "I know, Fenghuang. However, do we not have to wait for Master Wong's next order?"

Fenghuang pointed at Mika with a wing. "Master Wong suggests that she practices her folk's power as we wait."

"Ah, I see." Long shifted his gaze to Mika, still apathetic about the flying Jyuji. "I do not mind if you use my body as a target, young lady."


	27. Tranquil Training

Mika's eyes widened. Sure, she had fought and injured a lot, but she'd hate to hurt her friends. She even hadn't gotten over her guilt of injuring Katrina with her power, although the wounds had regenerated in a blink of an eye.

"Mika, you shouldn't worry about hitting him," Katrina reminded from beside the pond. "You can't even wreck steel with your power."

"But-"

"You won't want to anger Mr. Wong by damaging this garden, child." Katrina shrugged. "Besides, I'm sure that you've punched and kicked Brandon several times when he taught you how to fight."

Well, the rabbit woman had a point, but Mika would always have a hard time getting over the guilt.

Jyuji stopped flying around Long and yelled at her, "Just attack the big snake already! I wanna know if he lives up to his bullshit."

"Long is not lying about his durability," Fenghuang reminded. "Give it a try."

With a gulp, Mika focused on her hand. Gentle heat crept around her fingers as her hand glowed. A pulsating orb of light emerged above her palm, growing bigger with each passing second. Once it reached the size of a basketball, Mika tossed it at Long.

The sphere slammed into Long's snout and exploded. When the smoke cleared, Mika saw not even a scratch on Long's scales.

"That did not even tickle me." Long twirled his whisker with a finger. "You need to train harder, little girl."

"Either this big snake is bluffing or you're pathetic, missy." Jyuji sneered. "If it's really the latter, you should just forget about stopping the mist."

Mika growled. She didn't want to let Brandon deal with everything by himself anymore; not only she wanted to protect him, but she also needed the fame from being the state's savior, too. Maybe Brandon had resolved the issue of entering Metaslica University for her, but who knew that she might need the fame for something else in the future?

"So, are you gonna stand still and lament about how pathetic you are?"

Hell no! Mika conjured another sphere; this time, it grew twice as fast and ended up at least three times bigger than before.

Then a soothing sensation crept into her head. A second later, the gigantic orb vanished into thin air.

Jyuji burst out laughing. "You're such a joke, missy!"

"Wh-what was this?" Mika stammered, her hand quivering. "I just lost my focus all of a sudden."

Long scratched his snout with a finger. "A lesson for you, little girl: never rely on anger as a source of power."

"Your anger made you an easy target for Long's _Tranquility Aura_ ," Fenghuang explained. "It is the manifestation of Long's peaceful personality."

"Hmm..." Katrina stroked her chin. "I guess that is also why the garden feels very peaceful?"

"Long's aura amplifies the positive atmosphere of this garden, rabbit woman." Fenghuang paused. "Even so, the aura itself has some positive effects to everybody. It helps one focus and recover from mild illness, and if you have a power that helps your ally, the aura will strengthen it as well."

"I never consider using any of those aside from a risky healing power. The folk in me often botches my attempt to help others with my powers."

"You should give it a try now, rabbit woman. I am certain that your folk is helpless against the sheer positivity."

Katrina reached out her hand at Mika, who gulped and took a few steps backwards. Would the aura really work? She'd heard about what would happen if Katrina's power went wrong: it would destroy her target from the inside.

"This should work. I don't feel any pain from casting this." Katrina's hand glowed with emerald light. "Try running around, Mika."

Mika nodded, running across the bridge and away from the gazebo. Then something struck her in the back, and her body emitted the same green radiance.

Everything felt so light!

Mika zipped around the whole garden like a bullet, paying no attention to the swaying plants around the stone path. As the glow faded, she retraced her steps to the pond and stopped by the bridge. She quirked an eyebrow; she didn't sweat much, and nor did she feel breathless from all the running.

Katrina reached out a glowing hand at Mika; this time, the radiance was white. A moment later, an orb of light shot out of her palm and entered Mika's body. The girl scratched her head; why did Katrina use that healing power on her now?

"As expected, the boost isn't enough to bring back your arm," the rabbit woman said. "Regeneration isn't Orion's forte."

Mika nodded. It wasn't a big problem; Katrina had once told her that given enough time, Orion would learn how to regenerate her lost arm.

The Chrono Chamber was what Orion needed, and Mika couldn't wait to access it.

"Nonetheless, this is amazing." Smiling, Katrina looked at Long. "It'd be great if you could join us in our journey. Your aura will be very useful, and the mist has no effects on methdroids."

"Ah, rabbit woman," Long replied, "Master Wong needs our protection. He will never let us leave this area."

"You should talk to him. The faster we can stop the mist, the better."

"We might consider that, although I am certain that Master Wong will not like the idea."

"I suggest that you train hard," Fenghuang cut in, "so that you do not have to rely on us."

"Very well." Katrina shifted her gaze to Mika. "You should relearn the rest of your powers." She counted off with her fingers. "Let's see... You've relearned _Light Grenade_ and even learned to control where the sphere goes, although you still need a lot of practice... Oh, you haven't relearned _Torch_ and _Flash_." She folded her arms over her chest. "Why don't you relearn them now?"

Fenghuang pointed a wing at the gazebo. "You should train there. Aside from Long's aura, it is also where the garden's positive energy gathers."

Mika smiled and nodded. "Sure. Thanks for the suggestion." As she strode towards the gazebo, she heard Jyuji yawn.

"This is boring." The sapphire dragon shrugged. "Well, it's not like you can hurt that big snake anyway."

Mika continued her walk.

"I guess I'll talk with this big snake so that I won't get bored to death." Jyuji looked at Long. "What else do you have up your sleeves?"

Long chuckled. "A lot of tricks, little dragon."

"Show me."

"Ah, they will only interfere with that little girl's training. Nobody likes the deafening sound of explosions."

"Stop boasting and show me what you're capable of, big snake!"

As the dragons argued, Mika arrived at the center of the gazebo and sat down cross-legged. Looking down, she balled her hand into a fist and focused on the growing heat around her elbow.

The heat streamed down her forearm and towards her knuckles, bringing with it a layer of bluish white flame.

"Long's aura makes it easy, huh?"

Mika looked up. Katrina towered before her.

"How hot is that flame?" the rabbit woman asked.

"It's harmless, but if I will it, it can be hot enough to melt pure gold."

Katrina stroked her chin. "I see. Well, let me ask you something. Have you ever thought of punching hard enough to send some fire flying at your foe?"

Mika shook her head. "Uh, I have _Light Grenade_ to deal with range."

"You take everything at face value." Green aura coated Katrina's body as she turned away and readied her fists. "Watch this."

Mika's jaw dropped, and her flame faded. Katrina's fists flew like bullets out of a machine gun. If the rabbit woman could launch fire from every punch, then-

"You understand now?" Katrina stopped punching and deactivated her aura. "Give it a try. Start slow."

Mika nodded and stood up. As she headed to the railings of the gazebo, bluish white flame engulfed her forearm. Once the bickering Jyuji and Long were in sight, she pulled back her fist and took aim. _It's okay. Long will absorb the fire, so there won't be any harm._

"Jyuji," Katrina called out, running towards Mika, "move aside!"

Long lowered his head to see Mika. "Oh?"

Mika punched, but no fire shot out at Long.

Jyuji burst out laughing. "Another failure? You're so funny!"

"Never rely on anger as a source of power," Mika chanted, furrowing her brow and closing her eyes. Her heart pounded as she pulled back her fist and pretended to not hear Jyuji's jeers. "Never rely on anger as a source of power."

The streaming heat along her forearm grew more intense. The fire didn't burn hotter, but something was gathering around her knuckles.

 _I think this is it._ Mika opened her eyes and punched. A bluish white fireball hurtled towards Jyuji and Long.

Jyuji glided towards the sphere and inhaled, pulling the fireball into his maw. Then he swallowed.

"Is that a fireball or a scoop of ice cream?" Jyuji mocked, threads of smoke escaping from his mouth. "Big snake's fire burns hotter than yours, you know?"

Mika's flame faded. "I'm not planning to hurt anyone with it, Mr. Jyuji."

"Liar! Just admit that your fire is that lousy!"

"Mika's fire is harmless," Katrina cut in, "but she can will it to burn hot enough to melt pure gold."

Jyuji wagged a finger at Mika. "Prove it."

Mika gave a small nod. Well, it wasn't like her fire would burn hotter than Jyuji's.

Just as Mika focused on the growing heat around her elbow, Long looked away. "Master Wong is coming," he said.

Everybody turned. Wong, now dressed in a red-and-gold changsan, stood in the distance with Fenghuang. Mika approached them, her ears perked up.

"Go fetch Brandon and Billy," Wong told Fenghuang. "They are at the borders of Metaslica and Gatou."

"Yes, Master." Fenghuang spread her rainbow wings. Once Wong stepped aside, she ran along the stone steps and jumped into the azure sky.

Watching Fenghuang's fading silhouette, Mika smiled. Her father must look cool when riding the bird, probably like a gallant knight in fairy tales. Well, wasn't he one when he dated her mother? Mika often heard about how he would escort her mother to her home at night and beat up the thugs who dared to lay a finger on her.

"Young lady."

Wong's voice snapped her out of her reverie. "Yes?" she muttered.

"You should go change. Brandon will not like how his daughter looks right now."


	28. Reunion

Fashion was never Mika's forte, a reason why her classmates often poked fun at her during her schooldays. Wong had offered her a few fancy clothes, including a red qipao, but she had chosen a gray t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Although plain, they wouldn't hamper her mobility.

After drying herself and putting on those simple clothes along with her belt holster, Mika looked at the big mirror in the bathroom. Most schoolgirls preferred long hair over ear-length bob, but Mika didn't care; she worked part-time for the unofficial slum patrol group after all. Brandon had always told her that short hair was better for combat.

Walking towards the bathroom's door and opening it, Mika grinned at the thought. Despite telling her that, Brandon had a wild black mane that went past his shoulders a bit. Well, he had a reason to not care about it; yanking his hair wouldn't cause him any pain.

Outside the bathroom was a windowless hallway illuminated by yellowish wall and ceiling lamps. Cold wind blew out of the air conditioners on the ceiling, making her shiver a bit. Mika should've asked for a jacket from Wong, but that'd be so greedy of her, wouldn't it?

Katrina stood beside the bathroom's door, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Warmth and scent of jasmine emanated from her clean brown fur.

Mika raised an eyebrow. Rabbits shouldn't take a bath, should they? Even if someone dried their fur with a hairdryer, the heat would hurt them.

"What's the matter?" Katrina asked.

"You took a bath, too?"

"Why not?"

"Isn't wet fur troublesome for rabbits?"

"Do I look like an ordinary rabbit to you?"

Mika shook her head. Okay, the words "not an ordinary rabbit" were enough to answer everything.

"Anyway, we should head out." Katrina turned and walked away. "Mr. Wong is waiting for us at the castle's yard."

Mika nodded and followed the rabbit woman along the desolate hallway. Mahogany doors rested left and right on the wall; each of them had a metal plank specifying what lay behind the doors. The signs featured both Chinese and English languages at once.

The further they went, the warmer the air grew. A slow melody from plucked strings echoed amid the sounds of footsteps and chatters in the distance. Soon, Mika and Katrina arrived in a large hall, where well-built men in suits roamed.

The main hall of Jiugang Castle had not changed much, as far as Mika could recall. While the granite floor and the four pairs of round red pillars remained, the stone tablet had changed. The object still rested against the wall, exactly four pillars away from the castle's entrance, but the yin yang carving now had a white fenghuang on the dark side and a black eastern dragon on the bright side.

Mika strode towards the exit with Katrina leading the way; unlike the rabbit woman, Mika would still look at the men who sat at the corner to play their Chinese zithers - the guzheng. With Wong's earlier bamboo fan performance in the garden, the gang certainly lived up to its title: Gatou the Artistic.

When Mika stepped out of the castle, war cries smothered the oriental tune. To their right men in changsan stood in lines, raising their wooden swords overhead and bringing them down when their instructor - an old man standing across them - commanded them to.

In an era where various firearms and explosives were viable, human swordsmen seemed useless, especially against monstrosities of the mist such as orgmen. However, Wong and his men steadfastly refused to use modern weapons, and it actually worked. When Wong first guided Mika into the castle, he had explained to her that his men wielded the zhanmadao, a sword with a very long and broad blade capable of slicing through a horse's legs. With enough skill, these swordsmen from Gatou could cut down orgmen before they could do a thing, and Wong had proved it by sending his men to Metaslica to test their might against David's orgmen.

Mika traversed across the large stone yard, the sunlight heating up her skin. Unlike the garden, the yard only had a few small trees to mitigate the scorching sun.

Wong stood a few feet away from the castle's entrance, looking at the cerulean sky with his hands behind his back. Katrina and Jyuji stood beside him.

Ah, so the sapphire dragon had argued enough with the jade dragon. Mika wondered what Long had done to drive Jyuji away from the garden.

"Long kept telling us about his destructive power," Katrina began. "Did he actually hurt someone with it?"

"He came close to it, rabbit woman, and it was partially my fault. I had not prepared a proper landing site for him when I rode him home from Metaslica." Wong cleared his throat. "I knew if he landed on this yard, he would demolish Jiugang Castle and kill many people. So I immediately directed him to land on a block of multistory buildings out there."

"And then?"

"He made his own landing site by crushing the buildings under his weight and sweeping away the remaining ones with his tail. He did not see my man's car speeding along the nearby road, but fortunately, the chunks of debris missed the car by a few inches."

Katrina nodded. "I see."

"Pfft, strength is useless if one can't hit the foe." Jyuji shrugged. "That big snake is too slow to hit anything."

"Long blowing you away from the garden does not count as a hit?" Wong asked.

"His super breath didn't even scratch me, old man!"

"He never intends to hurt anyone, dragon." A pause. "Fenghuang is coming."

Mika looked up and spotted Fenghuang with her rainbow wings spread. Seeing the rider of the colorful bird made her smile. Brandon, now back as a strong and healthy man, sat on the back of Fenghuang's neck, sunlight glinting off the double bit axe in his hand. The blue luminescent lines that ran across the blade and the handle reminded her of a circuit board.

Huh, where did he get that axe? Did he steal it from Metaslica or made David craft it for him? Either way, such a big, barbaric weapon looked better on him because he had a wild mane and a robust body. The long-sleeved dress shirt didn't really complement his looks, though; he should've put on a t-shirt or a tank top, so that he could show off his well-built muscles and veiny arms.

In his other hand was a teal electric guitar. As Fenghuang dived in for a landing, Billy shot out of the instrument and glided towards Mika. Brandon tossed the guitar at Billy, who caught it without looking back.

"Good day, Mika!" Grinning, he stopped in front of Mika. "Happy to see your father back?"

"Of course! You helped him find me, right? Thanks a lot!" With a broad smile, Mika ran past everybody and towards Fenghuang with her arms spread. "Brandon!"

Brandon hopped off Fenghuang, returning Mika's smile. However, it quickly vanished as his gaze fell to Mika's left arm. It had nothing but a stump below the elbow.

Mika stopped in her tracks, the hair on the back of her neck rising. The fatherly gentleness in his face had gone; his face pretty much spelled out, _"Woe to the wretch who took away my daughter's arm."_

He wouldn't give the culprit a swift, painless death; Mika was sure about it.

Brandon seized the remainder of her left arm. "Was it David? Or maybe Orion?"

Oh, no, why did he have to bring up Orion of all people? The alien did surface on her left arm when they journeyed in the misty area, but it had taught her to defend herself better.

Brandon raised his voice. "Who did it?"

"I-it was David," Mika muttered. "His snake bit off my arm."

Brandon released her arm and let out an animalistic snarl. Mika gulped; although David was a despicable man, she would rather not watch what Brandon would do to him.

Also, what would happen to her chance of entering Metaslica if Brandon unleashed his wrath on David?

"Vengeance will not get you far, Brandon," Wong spoke from behind Mika. "Without him, you cannot access the Chrono Chamber."

Brandon growled at Wong.

"The methdroids are known for their loyalty towards their creators and masters. To be an enemy to their creators or masters is to be an enemy to their methdroids." Wong pointed at Brandon's axe. "That is a methdroid from David, is it not? Try activating its true power now."

Brandon's thumb went to push a switch located near the grip. However, nothing happened even after many clicks.

"David was behind its creation. You intend to harm him, so it refuses to let you use its true power."

"We don't need any help from that bastard!" Brandon snapped.

"I can relate to your issue since I am similar to you: a mother who wanted to avenge her dead son. But whether we like it or not, we have to ally ourselves with David," Katrina reminded, walking towards Brandon. "The Chrono Chamber will help us unleash our potential."

Mika winced. Oh, no, this would be _messy_. She'd better not tell Brandon that she actually agreed with Katrina.

"You said you were a vengeful mother." Brandon pointed his axe at Katrina, his voice calm but chilling at the same time. "But you tried to persuade me to not avenge my daughter."

"Stopping the mist is equal to saving humanity." Katrina folded her arms over her chest. "Not like your case. Torturing and especially killing David is equal to denying us the access to the Chrono Chamber. You have yet to learn how to utilize your folk's power properly, which is important if you wish to take on the misty capital."

"I beat David without Scutum's barriers."

"David is very proficient with his folk's power and can give you a lot of trouble. I'm sure that at some point in the fight, you wished that you could use Scutum's barriers."

"I don't."

Mika didn't need any signs of a liar from Brandon; her instinct could tell her that her father was lying.

"How about we have a duel? I'll show you the importance of folks' powers."

Knowing Katrina's powers, Mika almost screamed "don't" at Brandon. However, she resisted the urge; doing so would further anger him, as it came from his child's mouth and he would interpret it as _"Katrina is strong and dangerous."_

"Challenge accepted," he replied firmly, flipping the humongous axe in the air before catching it with both of his hands.

"Brandon, don't use that!" Mika held Brandon's wrist. "Mrs. Katrina took care of me when you were away! You shouldn't... You shouldn't-"

"I have my folk's power, Mika," Katrina interrupted. "Worry more about him, not me."


	29. The Duel

Sunlight poured down on the blocks of dilapidated tenements and the desolate streets. Fenghuang flew across the sky, the in-built camcorder in her eyes ready to record the upcoming battle.

Walking down the pavement with Katrina, Brandon scanned the surroundings. He had tried hard to not wince when Wong suggested that he and Katrina fought here. Although Brandon had no information about what Katrina's powers were, he knew for sure that his opponent, being half rabbit, had nimble legs. She'd use the buildings for hiding or simply height advantage when she saw it fit.

After studying the area for some time, though, Brandon thought of an idea. The loaded trash cans in the alleys might come in handy. Moreover, collecting some sand from the streets and hiding it in his pockets would help a lot; nobody would like getting some of it in the eyes. He shouldn't let Katrina spot him picking up sand, though.

Upon reaching a T-junction, Katrina halted and looked at the street sign. "Bamboo Street" was written in big white letters on the green metallic plank.

"This is the place Mr. Wong talked about. The Gatou people would only roam this street early in the morning to throw away the castle's trash. It's also quite far from Jiugang Castle." Katrina turned to Brandon. "Mr. Wong won't mind the property damage here, but try keeping it at minimum."

Brandon took a few steps back and held his axe as if it were a fly swatter. Once again, the memories of laughing at the minotaur methdroid haunted his mind. Not that it mattered much, as killing Katrina would break Mika's heart.

He only aimed to incapacitate Katrina and win, to prove that he didn't need David's Chrono Chamber.

Katrina scratched her cheek with a finger. "That's an interesting way to wield an axe."

"I do not wish to kill you. You took care of Mika when I was away, and Mika has grown quite fond of you _._ "

"Very well." Katrina readied her fists. "Let us begin."

Brandon charged and swung his axe. Katrina ducked, blue ethereal aura coating her furry body.

Crack!

A chop to the wrist knocked his axe out of his grip. Brandon's eye widened. Holy crap, this rabbit woman's blow could affect the hands that could lift an armored truck with ease!

Just as he moved to retrieve his weapon, Katrina kicked it away into an alley.

A hiss escaped through Brandon's gritted teeth. Well, not that he couldn't fight barehanded; he just disliked trading strength and range for speed.

Brandon launched a flurry of fists, at which Katrina bobbed and weaved like a professional boxer. He growled at his inability to hit, and his punches now flew everywhere like bullets out of a machine gun. But Katrina dodged everything.

 _Screw it!_ Brandon stopped punching and inhaled. _Rabbit ears couldn't possibly handle this!_

When Katrina threw a fist at him, Brandon unleashed a mighty shout at her face. The rabbit woman pulled away with a wince, her hands moving to cup her ears.

Brandon barraged the dazed Katrina with knuckles to the face and the body. Bones rattled. Blood, teeth, and saliva flew everywhere. However, Katrina wouldn't fall.

In a flash, Katrina wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Oh, no, not this move! Brandon had watched many boxing shows in the TV, and seeing this hugging thing - a clinch - had always annoyed the heck outta him. After drawing a deep, hearty breath, he roared into Katrina's ears and broke free from her grip.

As he pulled back a fist, Katrina regained her composure, and her aura turned green. Then she zipped away like a bolt of lightning.

Ah, so the green aura made her faster, meaning he could never hit the rabbit woman for the time being.

 _Let's play a waiting game then_ , Brandon thought. Her blood would run out sooner or later, and he'd pounce on her when that happened.

Katrina ran into an alley and wall-jumped all her way up to the rooftop of a tenement. Great. Now that the rabbit woman wasn't watching, Brandon rushed to the pavement to scoop up a handful of sand.

"I see that, Brandon!" Katrina yelled from above.

Shocked, Brandon dropped the sand and turned. Katrina, now drifting in the air without any aura, cupped her hands at her side. Radiant threads of bluish white energy swirled between her cupped hands and merged into a glowing sphere. It grew bigger with each passing second.

Whatever this was, Brandon's instinct told him to run. Dodging was the best when one didn't know what a move would do.

Katrina thrust her cupped hands forward, and the sphere turned into a streaming wave of energy that hurtled towards Brandon. The undead man jumped aside and ran towards the plummeting Katrina, but the wave swerved and pursued him.

It caught up with him, and the explosion sent him crashing into a tenement in the distance.

Brandon lay on the ground, his clothes oddly intact. However, his back felt sore and unnaturally hot, with beads of fluid rolling down his skin.

Huffing, he sat up and placed a hand on his back. Nothing covered his back now, and his fingers detected both ruptured and intact blisters. He brought his hand to his face and saw blood across his fingers.

If he'd had Scutum's barrier power, this attack shouldn't have been a problem.

A moment later, the soreness faded. At least he could regenerate his wounds.

Getting up, Brandon approached the gaping hole in the wall. What a power. The blast had wrecked the lower floors of the surrounding buildings, too.

Once he stepped out of the building, a furry foot struck him in the face and sent him smashing into the pavement. Katrina stood beside him, her body coated in blue ethereal aura. Dried blood stained her nose and lips.

"See? Without your folk's power, you're too weak to tackle the misty capital."

Gritting his teeth, Brandon stood up and readied his fists. His heart pounded. Beads of sweat ran down his body. It didn't matter; he only cared about winning the duel and proving his might to Mika.

"Just give up now."

Brandon inhaled, but as he tried to shout, an uppercut struck his jaw and slammed his mouth shut. The force knocked blood and a few teeth out of him.

Another fist came, but much to Brandon's confusion, it whizzed past his ear. Katrina would never launch inaccurate blows, would she?

Then a snap resounded behind him, and he could no longer feel anything below his neck. How to breathe? How to move his limbs? How?

As Brandon fell, Katrina hailed him with myriad of punches and kicks from all direction. The skin around his face and eye swelled, obscuring his already blurring and darkening vision. Amid the buzzing in his ears, he could hear the cracking of his bones.

He should've been more careful when Katrina punched that way; that was the beginning of a rabbit punch, a debilitating and potentially deadly blow aimed at one's cervical spine. Now, he was losing and couldn't possibly catch up anymore. His regeneration would use up too much blood.

The flurry of blows stopped, and Brandon's limp body thudded into the ground. He could now feel everything below his neck, but his limbs could barely move.

"You're in no shape to fight now," Katrina spoke. "Just give up."

The swelling, buzzing, and soreness faded, and he gradually regained his vision. Clenching his fists and panting, he glared at Katrina, whose aura had faded. What injuries had he inflicted on her? Bruises? Broken bones? The rabbit woman had regenerated them all.

Losing to Katrina meant he'd need the Chrono Chamber, which also meant he had to spare David from his wrath. Oh, how much he hated letting that snake bastard rip off Mika's arm and get away with it.

Brandon slowly rose to his feet, his body covered in sweat, blood, and bruises. The soaked fabric of his tattered shirt clung to his skin.

"Is winning that important for you, Brandon? Look, if you keep fighting, you'll run out of blood and die. Think about Mika."

Trying to make him give up, eh? Not a chance.

Brandon sidestepped to the sand-filled groove beside the pavement. Just as he kicked the sand at Katrina, the rabbit woman hid her face behind her arms. Then she dashed and jumped over him.

Brandon whirled to see Katrina pointing her glowing index finger at him. What now? Another energy wave thing? Nonetheless, he stood still, ready to dodge.

A beam of energy shot out of her finger and drilled into his only eye and through his skull. Brandon grasped his empty eye socket and howled in agony, knowing that he had no choice but to give up now. His eye couldn't regenerate that fast, especially with him running low on blood supply.

"You cannot see now. Give up!"

But he could still _hear_. Brandon inhaled, but when he tried to shout, a blow struck his jaw and slammed his mouth shut.

She'd known this trick, hadn't she? Fine. Brandon let go of his bleeding eye socket and stood still, his ears perked up. Guided by her breathing noise, he punched. His fist ripped through the empty air.

Then something struck both of his knees. Tumbling, he could feel blood gushing out of the wounds and trickling down his shins. Damn, Katrina must've kneecapped him with that energy beam thing.

Brandon smashed his fist into the ground and picked up the slabs of concrete. With a roar, he threw them. Katrina would certainly dodge everything, but it'd tell her that he hadn't given up yet.

"Stop this nonsense!" Katrina yelled.

A whoosh echoed, and a solid sphere slammed onto his back and rattled his spines. Blood sprayed out of his mouth.

As his consciousness faded, bloody tears trickled down his face. _I'm sorry Mika. I don't think anyone will let me teach that snake bastard a lesson now._


	30. No Success Without Failure

Cool air blew around Brandon and purged the soreness out of his body. His eye fluttered open, and he could see everything again.

Dust... So much shiny golden dust...

Fenghuang loomed over him, sprinkling golden dust at him with every flap of her colorful wings. The shiny particles merged with his body and caused it to glow with golden light. Beside him Katrina stood, a gigantic silver axe lying before her feet.

The shower of dust stopped, and Brandon's body stopped glowing. He picked up his axe and stood up, his face an impassive mask despite the fluidity of his movements. Losing sucked, especially when such a loss prevented him from achieving what he wanted.

_David, you lucky bastard._

"Fenghuang, your healing power is amazing," Katrina commented, "but why does Mr. Wong forbid you from using it frequently?"

"In traditional Chinese medicine, an imbalance between yin and yang in the body will cause one to be ill. The same goes to this world. Yin is death, yang is life." Fenghuang folded her wings. "A prolonged exposure to my healing power can bring the dead back to life and make one eternal. If abused, it will cause an imbalance that will destroy the world."

Placing a finger on his chin, Brandon nodded. The slum was the proof of such ruinous imbalance; due to the dense population, slum dwellers had resorted to building houses by the rivers. Thinking about these people's life made his skin crawl, as they urinated and defecated in the river and washed their stuff with the polluted water.

"Brandon," Fenghuang began, "your life force was unnaturally weak for an undead man before the duel began."

Brandon scratched his head. Did an undead man have any life force to begin with?

"One is an undead because there is still some life force in one's corpse. When did you receive your last transfusion?"

"Before I made my way out of the university."

"Before you fought David?" Katrina asked from beside him.

Brandon nodded.

"That means you were not at your peak condition when you fought me." Katrina smiled like a proud teacher. "You're impressive."

Impressive? Brandon scowled. The rabbit woman was too easily impressed for her own good.

"Not quite satisfied of your feat? Well, I can't blame you. You still aren't ready for the misty capital, although losing this duel has triggered _Empowering Scar_."

Brandon quirked an eyebrow. " _Empowering Scar_?"

"Whenever a folk-infected individual is injured in a fight or a training, the folk will analyze the nature of the wounds. It will then use the results of the analysis to craft stronger body cells and tissues to replace the lost and damaged ones."

Brandon stroked his chin. _Empowering Scar_ sounded like an exploitable ability; although nobody would want to have such a duel with him for the time being, there was Tie Long. Fenghuang had told Brandon that the jade dragon possessed a nigh-indestructible body and was always ready to be a punching bag.

 _Empowering Scar_ would let him develop destructive punches.

"We should go back." Fenghuang turned and bowed a bit. "Hop onto me, Brandon."

Brandon nodded and jumped onto the back of Fenghuang's neck. After running along the road for a few seconds, the bird leaped into the sky and spread her wings. She glided across the horizon like a bolt of lightning.

With the wind blowing against him and threatening to knock him off, Brandon winced and gripped the soft feather on Fenghuang's head. He had always feared that he might accidentally rip the feather off, but for some reason, holding onto it had always turned the gale into breeze.

Maybe bending the law of physics was part of alien witchcraft. The surroundings were still blurred, though.

A moment later, Fenghuang slowed down. Brandon's vision was still blurry and spinning, but it gradually stabilized as the bird dived. Once she set her feet on the ground, Brandon hopped off the bird and studied the structure ahead of him: a massive stone wall.

A roof similar to an upturned artichoke leaf rested atop the center of the wall. A huge circular hole lay underneath it; beyond the opening, a stone path and various plants awaited. The view resembled that of a forest.

Ah, this was the Garden of Contemplation, wasn't it? According to Fenghuang, this garden existed to contain Long's colossal body. The jade dragon also radiated _Tranquility Aura_ , which amplified the peaceful atmosphere of the garden and helped one's focus. Fenghuang had also told him that the aura had helped Mika learn many things in a short time.

A tap echoed from behind. Glancing over his shoulder, Brandon spotted Katrina with her green aura fading.

"Let's go," the rabbit woman spoke.

With a nod, Brandon entered the garden. Plants of various sizes stood around him, their stalks and leaves swaying in the gentle breeze.

Brandon looked around as he walked. Despite his ignorance about the type of plants, he smiled a bit at them. The many shades of green refreshed his mind.

 _Or is it Long's_ Tranquility Aura _doing its job?_

In the distance, the burbling of water echoed amid the rustling leaves. Brandon sped up, and in a few seconds, he arrived in a grassy opening with a large koi-laden pond.

A gargantuan serpentine dragon hovered above the body of water, sunlight glinting off the jade metal scales across his segmented body. This must be Tie Long, an eastern dragon known for his legendary strength and durability.

Approaching the pond, Brandon quirked an eyebrow at Long's body. Eastern dragons never had segmented bodies, did they? Then again, this was the State of Billion, where a crystalline chicken samurai and a giant blob of lard with helicopter blades used to exist.

"Ah, you finally came, Brandon 'Beyond the Grave' Heat." Long pointed at the gazebo beside him. "Mika Asagi is practicing her powers in here."

Brandon shifted his gaze to the gazebo, which lay across the wooden bridge beside him. Mika stood at the center of the building, her hand extended. Standing beside Mika, Jyuji stuck out his lengthy tongue at the silver-haired girl.

"That camera flash thing is useless, missy."

Mika turned and grasped Jyuji's face. A beam of light shot out of her hand, but Jyuji only laughed and shoved Mika away.

"Useless!" He cackled. "Really useless!"

Scowling, Mika pointed at Jyuji face.

"More jokes?"

In a flash, she poked Jyuji in the eye. The dragon pulled away and howled, a hand clasping his eye.

Grinning, Brandon began striding along the bridge. Silly Jyuji. Did he know that she learned to fight from him, a master of dirty tricks?

Just as he set a foot on the gazebo, Mika turned and ran to him. "Brandon, how did the duel go?" She wrapped her arm around his waist, a small smile creeping into her lips. "Did you win?"

Brandon looked away with a frown, his lips trembling. Why? Why couldn't he at least shake his head to tell her that he lost?

 _Give me some time._ He took a deep breath. _I need it._

"Lemme guess." Jyuji approached them. "Somebody lost to a rabbit woman."

Hands balling into fists, Brandon gritted his teeth. Why couldn't Jyuji keep his mouth shut?

"Pfft, if you lose to that rabbit woman, you should just forget about tackling the misty capital." Jyuji shrugged. "Everybody there is much stronger than her, you know?"

"Mr. Jyuji, don't," Mika spoke.

"I'm just speaking the truth."

With searing pain radiating in his chest and a lump forming in his throat, Brandon gently pushed Mika away and walked towards the wooden railing of the gazebo. He did think of slapping Jyuji with his axe, but the dragon had a point. What monstrosities lurked in the mist? Couldn't be just something as weak as orgmen and gargoyles.

_I'm weak._

Jyuji's laughter resounded amid the burbling water and the howling wind. Brandon continued to stare vacantly at the pond. Once Fenghuang arrived with the video of the duel, Jyuji would laugh even louder.

Long lowered his head to Brandon's eye-level. "Losing is not the end of everything, Brandon."

Brandon remained still.

"Humans always say, 'There are no successes without failure and losses.' It is especially true for those with _Empowering Scar_ ," Long commented, "because this ability replaces the lost and damaged body cells and tissues with stronger ones. Losers of a fight are bound to suffer more injuries than the winners, correct?"

Brandon nodded slightly.

"More injuries mean more stronger body cells and tissues."

Brandon gasped. Why had he forgotten his plan of developing destructive punches through that ability?

Smiling broadly, he told the jade dragon, "Thank you, Long." He put down his axe. "I have been thinking of exploiting _Empowering Scar_. Can I practice my punches on you?"

"Certainly."


End file.
